Treatment of Mesothelioma
Before the treatment of mesothelioma is required diagnosis which determines the stage of the cancer. The treatment of mesothelioma, like any other cancer, greatly depends from its stage, that is if the cancer is still localized or if it spread (metastasized) in other parts of the body. According to the stage of the disease are usually chosen surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy although patients often receive more than just one type of treatment.
If the mesothelioma is still localized the doctors usually decide for surgical removal of the lining of the chest or abdomen and some tissue around it. In pleural mesothelioma can be removed the lung, the lining of the chest and part of the diaphragm. Such surgery which is known as pneumonectomy is less common. However, surgery alone is often inefficient because unfortunately, many patients are not diagnosed with mesothelioma until the disease is already greatly progressed and metastasized. For that reason the majority of patients after or instead of the surgery receive radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Radiation therapy, use of localized ionizing radiation with purpose to kill or inhibit the growth of cancer cells can be used both for curative or adjuvant mesothelioma treatment. In contrary to radiation therapy, chemotherapy is a system-wide therapy using the anticancer drugs most commonly given by an injection into the vein with purpose to kill the cancer cells throughout the body.
Besides the traditional therapies - surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, mesothelioma can be also treated with immunotherapy which is aimed to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies which destroy cancer cells. Immunotherapy has shown some success in early stages of mesothelioma but further researches are required to determine its efficiency for mesothelioma. Besides that the majority of patients are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the late stage when immunotherapy has not show any benefits to the patients. Besides immunotherapy are usually also available several other experimental treatments of mesothelioma but only to the patients who agree to such treatments.