Health & Care Guide

Mesothelioma treatment is based on several factors, including the stage of infection, the area of infection, how much the contamination has spread, the nature of the affected cells and the age and overall health of the infected person. Infected persons are usually briefed about the success rates before embarking on any treatment process.

Mesothelioma treatment methods are wide and varied. The common ones practiced are surgery, radiation and medication. Removal of cancer cells are done through surgery whereas use of powerful drugs is involved in medication or chemotherapy. Malicious cells of cancer are destroyed using high energy x-rays or other energy beams in the process of radiation. As the case demands, physicians sometimes use a combination of two or more of these techniques.

Mostly medical tests like blood analysis are not suitable for ascertaining the form of cancer. Special procedures for diagnosis like video assisted thoracic surgery, thorascocopy, laproscopy and mediastinoscopy are made use of in identifying the disease. It is only after proper diagnosis that the actual mesothelioma treatment starts.

If the infection is comparatively mild, the cancer can be removed from its roots through surgery. Palliative surgical procedures which treat the symptoms than the causes are also resorted to these days. They include pleuroperitoneal shunt, pleurodesis, pleurectomy, thoracoscopy etc. Pleurodesis and chest tube drainage are the most common among palliative treatment, which cleans the affected areas.

In order to eradicate the disease completely strong treatment procedures are undertaken. Decortication is the procedure used to remove tumor from patients without removing the lung. This is done in stage 1 and stage 2 patients. Pneumonectomy is the procedure for removing the tumor, by extracting the lung. These two procedures are done in pleural mesothelioma cases, which account for more than three-fourths of total cases. Surgery will be conducted only after appropriate tests and analysis.

Chemicals are used in chemotherapy and it destroys cancerous cells from multiplying. It also assists in preventing the spread of infection, shrinking existing tumors and removing remnants of the disease once the surgery is done. Where there is no hope for a cure, palliative chemotherapy is resorted to. In radiotherapy, penetrating rays of energy or particle streams are employed. This is used along with surgical procedures. In a nut shell, mesothelioma treatment aims at removing the cancer and it is a comprehensive technique.

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Filed under: Cancer