Most Cancer Treatments Are Not Effective Mesothelioma Patients, However Photodynamic Therapy Could Provide a Hope
Oncologists choose what kind of treatment to administer with a patient. The options are endless. There is no one size fits all treatment regimen for peritoneal mesothelioma cancer patients. This is because of the relative rareness of the disease, the high mortality rate and low treatment success rate, and the few scientific studies to provide meaningful statistics.
Mesothelioma patients have historically had a bleak outlook, but doctors have recently made progress. Treatments for cancer are traditionally surgery (taking out the tumor and surrounding tissue), radiation (killing the cancerous cells with radiation), and chemotherapy (poisoning the cancerous cells.) There are problems with all three. Patients with mesothelioma have not responded well to traditional radiation therapy. Researches, concerned about damage to healthy tissue, are looking for ways to aim radiation directly at tumors.
Surgery removes the mesothelial tissue around the tumor. It is a grueling surgery with unknown benefits to patients. Common chemotherapy drugs that work on other types of cancer usually do not work on mesothelioma, and different combinations of chemotherapy drugs have been tried without a lot of success. As with radiation, research is going toward controlling the physical location of the treatment with emphasis on the pleural cavity.
Many advanced techniques in cancer treatment are tried on mesothelioma patients because of its high fatality rate. These techniques include a biologic therapy called the agent interleukin 2 and anti-angiogenesis drugs like thalidomide. A new drug that has shown results in improving survival is pemetrexed (brand name Alimta).
Considered by oncologists is where the tumor is located, what stage the mesothelioma is in, and the age and health of the patient. Two therapies that are extremely cutting-edge in fighting cancer are called photodynamic and gene therapy. Mesothelioma patients sometimes become involved in clinical trials in this area, and see benefits.
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