Mesothelioma Treatment-A basic explanation

Mesothelioma is heavily linked to exposure to asbestos fibres and it usually takes about 30-40 years post exposure for the symptoms of the disease to appear. The best approach to treatment is in trying to treat the cancer in its early stages. The available treatment modalities are 1}Surgery,2}Chemotherapy,3}Radiotherapy.

There are two types of surgeries for mesothelioma treatments, Aggressive Surgery and Palliative Procedures. Before performing any surgery, it is necessary to check whether the heart and lungs are functioning properly. Of the two types, aggressive surgery, also known as Pneumonectomy, is complicated surgery performed on younger patients, who are good in health and can bear the surgery. Pneumonectomy involves the removal of extra pleural membrane and a lung. The main purpose of this surgical treatment is to physically remove as much tumor as possible.

Palliative procedures of mesothelioma treatment are known as Pleurectomy. It is done in the early stages of cancer. This process of treatment involves surgical removal of pleura. However, the procedures are involved to lessen and control the symptoms rather than to cure the disease. This surgery reduces the pain caused by the tumor mass and helps in preventing the recurrence of pleural effusion. Complete removal of tumor is not possible with this procedure.

Chemotherapy is a form of treatment method that makes combined use of certain drugs for shrinking the tumor. Though some patients show only partial success to this method, some combination's of chemotherapy drugs have proved successful. Scientists have developed some new chemotherapy drugs for treating the cancer.

Radiotherapy makes use of nuclear radiations to try and selectively kill the cancerous cells and shrink{debulk} the tumor. This radiation can however also destroy the surrounding normal tissues of the heart, lungs and other nearby organs.

Most often a combination therapy is employed in the treatment of the disease. This involves the use of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery together. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are used to kill any remaining tumor cells left after the surgery and the combination therapy helps to relieve symptoms like pain.

Mesothelioma treatments can be very expensive and the victim can file lawsuits to get compensation and settlements to pay for medical expenses, loss of income, lost earning capacity, pain and sufferings. The mesothelioma victim will often need to seek the services of a competent asbestos attorney to be able to secure their deserved compensations from the industries/companies responsible for exposing them to asbestos.