How Is Mesothelioma Treated?
By Linda Woodhouse
Most people who develop mesothelioma have
worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles. However, they may have
been been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways. This could include
working with asbestos or by home renovation using asbestos cement products or
even by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos. The
resulting disease is rare form of cancer in which malignant (cancerous) cells
are found in the mesothelium, a protective sac that covers most of the body's
internal organs.
Mesothelioma occurs more often in men than in
women and risk increases with age, but this disease can appear in either men or
women at any age. About 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the
United States each year. Although reported incidence rates have increased in the
past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer.
There are various procedures used for the
treatment of mesothelioma. The type of treatment depends on the location of the
cancer, the stage of the disease, and the patient's age and general health.
A common treatment of the disease is by means
of surgery by the removal of part of the lining of the chest or abdomen and some
of the tissue around it. For cancer of the pleura, a lung may be removed in an
operation called a pneumonectomy. Sometimes part of the diaphragm, the muscle
below the lungs that helps with breathing, is also removed.
Another method is Radiation therapy, also
called radiotherapy. This involves the use of high-energy rays to kill cancer
cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy affects the cancer cells only in the
treated area. The radiation may come from a machine or from putting materials
that produce radiation through thin plastic tubes into the area where the cancer
cells are found .
Anticancer drugs can be used to kill cancer
cells throughout the body. This is known as chemotherapy and involves the
administration of the drugs by injection into a vein (intravenous, or IV).
Currently, doctors are also studying the effectiveness of putting chemotherapy
directly into the chest or abdomen.
Because mesothelioma is very hard to control,
the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) is sponsoring clinical trials that are
designed to find new treatments and better ways to use current treatments.
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