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Treatment Options
Surgery
Surgery may be necessary to remove portions of the pleural or peritoneal lining and surrounding tissue, depending on the progression of the cancer. In more serious cases, surgeons may remove a patient's lung, or sections of the diaphragm/pericardium.
Another palliative surgical procedure involves draining fluid that has acculumated in the abdomen or pericardium. This is strictly used to ease pain or discomfort, and is not a treatment or cure for the disease itself.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is simply the use of drugs for treating cancer. As with other medications, chemotherapy drugs can be taken orally in pill form, or directly injected into a patient's system. To treat Mesothelioma, systemic therapy is used, with the drugs entering a patients entire bloodstream and circulating throughout the body in order to combat the cancer.
A number of chemotherapy drugs have been used in the treatment of Mesothelioma. Currently, the most effective drug by itself is doxorubicin or Adriamycin. Other drugs that have been used include Cisplatin, methothrexate, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and capecitabine. As with other cancers, these drugs are often more effective when combined to fight cancerous cells.
These chemotherapy drugs are effective at killing cancerous cells, but can also damage normal non-cancer cells, causing side effects. Depending on the dosage and length of treatment, these can include nausea, hair loss, appetite loss, and oral sores.
Radiation Therapy
This form of treatment employs high energy gamma rays (X-rays) to target and kill cancerous cells. The source of this radiation can be from a machine, or from radioactive materials placed within the body in the cancerous regions. This method of treatment depends on the tumor size and its proximity to vital organs. As with chemotherapy, there can be serious side effects.
