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What are the therapeutic treatment options for mesothelioma?

The available therapeutic options include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, multi-modal therapy and supportive therapies. The purpose of all these alternatives is to extend the survival period of time and to improve the quality of life.

Surgical therapy

Complete surgical resection of the tumor is the most effective treatment of mesothelioma but is usually associated with other therapeutic methods. There are two types of surgical procedures that doctors use to treat mesothelioma: palliative and curative.

Radiotherapy

Because mesothelioma is a disease that usually spreads to other organs it is difficult to use a tumoricidal dose of radiation.

Radioimmunotherapy consists in the usage of radiolabeled antibodies in order to send the necessary radiation dose directly to the tumor. This way the risk of affecting healthy cells through radiation is significantly reduced.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is not curative and it cannot increase the survival period by itself. The effects are short-lived and only a few patients get the full benefits of this method.

 

Comments from doctors

  • There are 3 types of treatment that doctors recommend: surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

  • If the mesothelioma has already spread too much, doctors usually suggest palliative treatments which ameliorate the pain and other unpleasant symptoms.

  • Some patients even consider yoga, acupuncture and massage therapy as alternative treatments.

We wanted a resource where people who are looking for better help can find it, because one of the issues that I have found is that the diagnosis takes a little bit, some people don’t know if they are diagnosed or not. This is something that it is important enough, that is why I wanted to put the information together.