Mesothelioma treatments

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently Alimta (pemetrexed disodium) for use in combination with cisplatin for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. It is the first drug approved for this condition.

Mesothelioma treatment, the surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of the three. Malignant mesothelioma is difficult to treat, however, because it spread quickly to nearby organs.> Mesothelioma treatment is most successful when the disease is diagnosed early stage with a bank. A staging system is used to determine how advanced the case.

In stage 1, the disease is only so far as to spread the pleura. In this phase studies are performed to ensure that the cancer has not spread, and to check whether the lungs and heart working well. If the patient is young and healthy, aggressive surgery can be attempted. This is a high risk of the operation and requires the removal of the pleura the lung, the diaphragm and the pericardium. Radiation or chemotherapy, is often performed after the operation to eliminate any remaining tumor cells. In heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy, surgery is the direct administration of chemotherapy followed agent, heated by between 40 and 48 ° C, in the abdomen. This can reduce the penetration of the drugs into tissues. In addition, the damage by heat than normal cells to cancer cells.

In stage two of the> Mesothelioma cancer has reached the wall of the chest. The third stage, the diaphragm is affected. In the fourth stage, there are signs of metastases spread through the bloodstream. If surgery is performed during this phase, it is generally only for the relief of symptoms. A needle can be inserted into the chest to drain the fluid, relieving breathlessness and pain. Talc pleural space can be injected to stop the accumulation in liquid. Or the pleura can be removed surgically tothe pain. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can also be used to alleviate the symptoms.

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