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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