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Treatment of MesotheliomaTreatment of mesothelioma follows many of the basic treatment plans for other types of cancer. Like other cancers, the most common mesothelioma treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Which treatments are employed for any given patient depends on multiple factors including tumor size, location and stage. Newer treatments on the cutting edge include various forms of gene therapy, immunotherapy and photodynamic therapy. While none of these have proven to improve the management of mesothelioma definitively, they have shown promise and ongoing research is being done to improve the treatment of this form of cancer. SurgerySurgical procedures can be used in mesothelioma both to help diagnose the cancer as well as to help remove the tumor and attempt to cure it. However, surgical treatment is most effective when the tumor is discovered early, when it is small and not widespread in the body. Unfortunately, mesothelioma is often diagnosed later, once it has reached a large, invasive size or has even spread to distant organs (metastasized). In these later stages surgery may not be useful and only radiation and/or chemotherapy will be offered. In some of these case however surgery may be offered as a palliative measure to help limit symptoms.
ChemotherapyLike many cancers, chemotherapy medications can be used in the treatment of mesothelioma with the goal of killing cancer cells. Various medications are used. Most forms of chemotherapy are given systemically, to the whole body. However, some forms of chemotherapy treatment for mesothelioma may use drugs directly administered into the peritoneum (for peritoneal mesothelioma). Any chemotherapy treatment can have side effects because of the toxic effects of these medications on some normal, healthy cells in the body.
Radiation TreatmentsRadiation is often used in conjugation with surgical treatments but may also be used alone as mesothelioma treatment. The aim is for the high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells but mesothelioma can often be quite resistant to these treatments. Therefore they are rarely used as the sole treatment.
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