Top 20 Treatment Options For Mesothelioma

1. There are three options available, for Mesothelioma. One is surgery (taking out the cancer).
2. Chemotherapy (using drugs to combat the cancer).
3. The last is radiation therapy, by which high-dose X-rays or other high-energy rays are used to kill the cancer cells.
4. Surgery is one of the options available, but it has largely proved disappointing. For better success, it can be combined with chemotherapy and radiation. The most common surgery is a pleurectomy / decortication – the removal of the lining of the chest.
5. Another kind of surgery available is the extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) – the removal of the lung, lining of the chest’s inside, the pericardium, and the hemi-diaphragm.
6. Radiation is used post-operation as a consolidative treatment. Radiation is given to the hemi-thorax region, sometimes with chemotherapy.
7. Chemotherapy is perhaps the most effective treatment.
8. Immunotherapy is also used – the body is injected with intrapleural inoculation of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), though this has not proven very effective.
9. Mesothelioma cells can be treated with in-vitro lysis by LAK cells, following activation by interleukin-2 (IL-2), but this may have side effects.
10. Heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy is also used. As much of the tumor as possible is removed, then a chemotherapy agent is directly administered, temperature of between 40 and 48 degrees Celsius, to the abdomen.
11. Chest tube drainage is used for the case of pleural effusion – building up of fluid.
12. Chemical pleurodesis is used in the case of pleural effusion – by this, a sclerosing agent is used to abrade the pleural surface, and this produces an adhesion between the parietal and visceral pleurae. Talc is the most effective agent for pleurodesis.
13. The pleural space is closed by the chest tube drainage treatment.
14. Thoracoscopy and Pleurodesis are used, with VATS, using a powdered form of talc, versus talc slurry. This will only prove effective if the lung is not encased by any tumor, this restricts the expansion.
15. Pleurectomy is performed if extensive surgery is ruled out. In such cases, all the tumor visible will not be removed. This is extremely effective for controlling pleural effusion if disease restricts the expansion of the lung.
16. In Pleuroperitoneal Shunt, a catheter is placed, running from under the skin from the pleural to the peritoneal cavity.
17. Extrapleural Pneumonectomy is a more radical surgical approach, which is currently being combined with chemotherapy and/or radiation, or even new approaches like gene therapy and photodynamic therapy.
18. For peritoneal Mesothelioma, cytoreductive surgery is performed, which aims to remove all or nearly all the gross or visible tumor in the peritoneal cavity. The remaining cancer cells are treated with Intra-Peritoneal Hyperthermic (heated) Chemotherapy (IPHC), which is then sent to the abdominal cavity.
19. The neoadjuvant approach is used in chemotherapy – where Alimta is used with Cisplatin, for patients who have malignant pleural Mesothelioma. This has been specially approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
20. Chemotherapy is administered intravenously, through a vein. A thin needle is inserted into a vein in the lower arm, or in the hand – and drugs rapidly enter into the blood stream. They may also be delivered through catheters and/or ports.