For malignant mesothelioma the traditional treatments of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation are still the first line of defense and offense. As mentioned in other posts there is still no cure for mesothelioma. A cure for mesothelioma like any other cancer will be difficult.
Chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy are used together in some cases to treat malignant mesothelioma but not all instances.
Chemotherapy is medication given usually in IV form to kill the cancer cells and prevent then from spreading. Radiation therapy is used for the same thing.
Radiation therapy is the least affective therapy of the three because unlike many forms of cancer which only forms a tumor in one area, mesothelioma often is very spread out over several areas. This makes radiation incredibly challenging. Now it will be used in some cases for comfort care. If a mesothelioma tumor is causing great pain or discomfort at one spot in a patient then radiation therapy might be called upon to slow or eliminate that process.
Otherwise radiation will just do more damage to healthy tissue than destroy the targeted cancerous tissue.
Chemotherapy is also used for only palliative care sometimes if the cancer is discovered in the later stages which it often is. But chemotherapy will also be used as curative for mesothelioma along with surgery. Often times chemotherapy will be administered after surgery to sort of "clean up" any remaining cancer cells.
Surgery also is either curative or palliative. But often time if mesothelioma is caught early enough it is used as curative. There are many types of surgeries for mesothelioma including but not limited to removing part of a lung, removing all of a lung and removing some of the mesothelioma tumors on the lung itself. Other minor surgical procedures are also performed as an outpatient.
Chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy are used together in some cases to treat malignant mesothelioma but not all instances.
Chemotherapy is medication given usually in IV form to kill the cancer cells and prevent then from spreading. Radiation therapy is used for the same thing.
Radiation therapy is the least affective therapy of the three because unlike many forms of cancer which only forms a tumor in one area, mesothelioma often is very spread out over several areas. This makes radiation incredibly challenging. Now it will be used in some cases for comfort care. If a mesothelioma tumor is causing great pain or discomfort at one spot in a patient then radiation therapy might be called upon to slow or eliminate that process.
Otherwise radiation will just do more damage to healthy tissue than destroy the targeted cancerous tissue.
Chemotherapy is also used for only palliative care sometimes if the cancer is discovered in the later stages which it often is. But chemotherapy will also be used as curative for mesothelioma along with surgery. Often times chemotherapy will be administered after surgery to sort of "clean up" any remaining cancer cells.
Surgery also is either curative or palliative. But often time if mesothelioma is caught early enough it is used as curative. There are many types of surgeries for mesothelioma including but not limited to removing part of a lung, removing all of a lung and removing some of the mesothelioma tumors on the lung itself. Other minor surgical procedures are also performed as an outpatient.
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