Chemotherapy can be useful in combating the spread of
tumors and can also shrink them. Though it is not
technically thought of as a curative procedure,
chemotherapy when used in conjunction with other
treatments can be very effective.
Many people mistake the term chemotherapy for
radiation treatment but the two are not the same.
Chemotherapy relies on anticancer agents and drugs to
stop cancerous growths like those caused by
mesothelioma.
There are many different reasons to use chemotherapy
but they all depend on the end goal, stage of cancer,
and how early it is detected. For mesothelioma
patients, chemotherapy is often used in conjunction
with surgeries or in place of them if the patient
isn?t fit for surgery.
Chemotherapy is administered through a vein and often
the patient will get a catheter inserted into their
arm. This is so they don?t have to get repeated needle
pokes which can be painful and uncomfortable.
Side effects of chemotherapy are fairly common and
occur because the drugs may do damage to normal cells
in addition to the cancerous ones. This can cause
digestive problems, hair loss, and many other types of
side effects that your doctor will advise you of.
Chemotherapy isn?t right for every single patient. If
you have caught the mesothelioma very early on, it
could be simply removed by surgery.
Chemotherapy can also be pretty expensive but if the
treatment is needed, you may be able to have some or
all of the costs paid for by whoever exposed you. This
could be a factory or mine and odds are they have paid
out to many people already.
If you are diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be
able to have one of many different types of surgery to
help out in different ways.
There are various procedures that you may have to
undergo and they can usually be classified in three
ways.
There are diagnostic procedures, palliative
procedures, and curative procedures.
Diagnostic procedures are basically the step after you
are suspected to have mesothelioma and you have fluid
buildup or what could be a tumor growing in either the
inner or outer lining of your lungs.
A common procedure is called a thoracoscopy. This
procedure is used to get an absolute diagnosis and
sometimes to check how large a tumor may be.
Video-assisted thoracic surgery is also an option
while in the diagnostic stage. A small camera is
inserted into the chest so the pathologist can get a
good look at what is going on and also get a sample of
tissues.
Palliative surgery is intended to treat one or more
symptoms of mesothelioma but doesn?t actually stop the
progression of the disease. A chest tube to drain
excess fluid build-up is one of the first symptoms and
can be persistent. Occasionally, a small catheter may
be used for continuous drainage.
Curative procedures, though not 100% effective, seek
to eliminate the entire tumor and hopefully cure the
disease without using chemotherapy or radiation. If
the tumor can?t be removed, sometimes the entire lung
may have to be excised. This is called pneumonectomy.
This procedure is also used in peritoneal mesothelioma
also.
Pleural mesothelioma is a type of cancer that grows in
the outer lining of the lungs and is associated with
exposure to asbestos earlier in life. This exposure
could come from old buildings, factories, and from
mining asbestos.
Asbestos particles effect more than just those that
mine or work with it. It also can come home with them
and be inhaled by family members and even people at a
business close to a mine or factory. Pleural
mesothelioma is categorized in four distinct stages.
The most common system to determine the stage
mesothelioma is in is called the International
Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) system and is based
on the TNM system used in other types of cancer.
Stage one is when the cancer is beginning to affect
the outer layers of the lung or chest wall on one side
and may be on the diaphragm. This only applies when
the mesothelioma is on one side of the chest.
Stage two is when the mesothelioma is in both the
inner and outer layers of the lung and a tumor has
started to grow.
In stage three it may have spread to the chest wall or
possibly the pericardium or the sac that covers the
heart and its main arteries and blood vessels. It
could also be spread to the lymph nodes as well.
Stage four is when the tumor has grown too large to be
successfully removed with traditional surgical
methods. It could have spread to other organs, lymph
nodes on both sides of the chest, or above the
neckline.
Each stage has a variety of treatment options
available.
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