The methods used to treat mesothelioma are the same ones used to treat any cancer.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that is caused by the inhalation of asbestos dust. It tends to manifest itself several years (read: more than 30 years) after the affected person has inhaled these deadly minute particles.
This deadly cancer attacks the lining that covers most of our organs. This lining is known as the mesothelium, hence the name mesothelioma. Mesothelioma cancer has also been associated with irradiation, intrapleural thorium dioxide, and inhalation of other fibrous silicates.
The treatment you can expect for mesothelioma could be one, or a combination of the following: radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. However, due to the intricacies of mesothelioma the treatment tends not to be very effective, and the prognosis is usually a few years at the most.
In order to effectively attempt to treat mesothelioma doctors tend to use all three methods. This form of treatment for mesothelioma is known as trimodality therapy. More and more doctors are choosing to employ this method of treatment as it has proven to greatly increase one's survival time by up to 5 years. Usually it is only a year or so.
Currently, new treatments for mesothelioma are being researched in hopes of obtaining better results. Some of these new treatments include:
Gene therapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).
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