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Mesothelioma Treatment

Till date no definitive cure to Mesothelioma has been discovered. Mesothelioma is caused due to the exposure of asbestos by an individual. The inherent nature of Mesothelioma is that it remains unidentified for a long stretch of time and by the time it is identified the possibility to treat it reduces to large scale. On an anatomical scale, the level to which Mesothelioma affects starts from the peritoneal lining. Peritoneum is the layer that covers and protects the underlying tissues and internal organs. If Mesothelioma is identified at an earlier level then the cure is sighted out by the surgical methods. The various therapies used to cure Mesothelioma include Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, Photodynamic therapy, Gene Therapy and Immunotherapy.

The most widely used treatment procedure for Mesothelioma is surgery. A distinctive feature about the curative therapies about Mesothelioma is that they are used in combination with other methods. For instance, if there is an individual who undergoes surgical methods to remove the cancer cells for treating Mesothelioma, the surgery is followed by a phase of Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy to eradicate any possible residual cells that might still be onco-specific in there nature. Mesothelioma curing also shows a definitely unique pattern when it comes to traditional methods of therapy, the patients choose to go in for the non-traditional methods like Yoga, Aromatherapy, and Meditation for relaxation and relief from pain. Researches show that the average people who are affected by Mesothelioma are male. The irony of the moment lies in the fact that by the time people go in for the diagnosis to there medical professionals, they are left with about 8 months to live. Further, people who undertake measures like radiotherapy live near-about 2 years more. Till date, owing to the lack of proper funding not much research has been possible on the curing of Mesothelioma. The cure of Mesothelioma is still an abstract topic in a concrete subject like medicine. With more and more people now awakening to the adversities of Asbestos, the prevention of Mesothelioma is a topic that is sinking down the masses.

Surgical Treatment: - The surgical treatment of Mesothelioma is preceded by a number of analytical stages that the surgeon bears in mind before undertaking surgery. The same is done by the medical professionals because the surgical approach to the treatment of Mesothelioma is rightly termed – Radical. The surgeons undertake a phase of evaluation which involves the steps like present working status of Lungs and Heart. Several other evaluative tests are carried out like evaluation test asbestos exposure, evaluation of smoking history, and determination of presence of pleural plaques or pleural thickenings.

The surgical treatment is divided broadly under two sections:-

Extrapleural Pneumectomy (Very extensive)
Pleurectomy (Less Extensive)

A disturbing fact about the surgical treatment of Mesothelioma is that even after undertaking either form of treatment of Mesothelioma, it recurs. It is rarely possible to remove the whole of affected tissue that has oncogenic nature, the surgeons mostly zero in on an effort to remove the bulk of the affected tissue that might be infected by cancer. In present times there is a lot uncertainty about whether to follow surgical resection of the pleural tissue affected by Mesothelioma or not. A combination of pleural effusion and bulky tumor makes surgical resection practically impossible. It is very important to keep in mind the early presence of some distant metastatic disease in patients who are being considered for surgical treatment since presence of any such metastatic lesion would preclude the person from a tumor reduction surgery.

The median of people who survived after surgery of EPP type lingers around 9 according to a survey. In present day there are still no clear guidelines as to which type off the two surgical methods must be considered for the treatment of Mesothelioma.

Chemotherapy: - The treatment of the individuals that are affected by Mesothelioma by chemotherapeutical methods involves administration of drugs like Almita and Cisplatin intravenously. These drugs are area-specific in nature and they work by interfering with the cell division process of the cancer cells and killing them. The side-effects that appear due to the administration of chemotherapy in individuals for treatment of Mesothelioma appear without a fail in every possible patient that has undergone the same treatment. But these side-effects disappear quickly after subjective treatment. The side effects in the individuals include the following:-

Hair Loss
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Anemia
Haemorrhagia

Even after treatment of the patients, there might be presence of secondary oncogenic offshoots from the cells that are subjected to chemotherapy. The assurance of wellbeing of a patient even after undergoing the chemotherapy sessions is negative, this is mainly due to the fact that Mesothelioma camouflages and lies undetected in the patients of r along time and then later when it is detected it already spreads to such wide scales that the treatment of the individual is a tough situation. Early detection of Mesothelioma might however still improve the chances of survival of an individual who has undergone chemotherapy. The good news is that the developments in the medicine field in present day assure positive results for the individuals who are suffering from Mesothelioma.

Radiation Therapy: - Radiation therapy involves the exposure of the patient’s with Mesothelioma to radiation that bombard the cancer cells. This treatment is highly effective in reliving the patients off the pain of Mesothelioma. It is used alternatively after following the surgical methods. The clinical studies do not present very promising role of radiation therapy in curing Mesothelioma. Very minute radio-activated bots are implanted within the affected tissues while they are exposed to the radiations. The role of the bots is that they do not allow the radioactive beams to waver and damage the surrounding healthy tissues. The role of radiation therapy is not very promising when it comes on improving the survival rates of the patients. The general stigma for Radiation Therapy is that they are useful in seeding the surgical wounds and the biopsy related tissue site.

A new research presents the fact that radioactive colloids are very helpful when it comes to treating the pleural effusion. These colloids are lodged in the pleural cavity for treating the fluid collection. This method does not has a lasting effect on killing the switch for the carcinogenic tissue production, but it surely helps in presenting the individuals relief from the adversities of pleural effusion when it comes to Mesothelioma.

Photodynamic Treatment: - In present day scenario for the treatment of Mesothelioma. A new concept that has evolved out of Medicine world is Photodynamic Therapy. Mesothelioma is a highly specialized form of treatment that is widely used for topical treatment of Mesothelioma. The process involves photosensitizing agent and light of a wavelength specific to the absorption characteristics of the sensitizer in presence of ample Oxygen. As already mentioned the treatment is very topical (superficial) in nature due to the fact that every tissue has a different nature of absorption. The depth of the tissue to which it allows the absorption is very limited. This process is also helpful post-surgical-resection of the cancer affected tissues, mostly the cavities. With several medical researches carried on every day, in the present times the discovery of a varied range of laser and newer photo sensitizers has brought about a revolution in the Photodynamic Treatment. The photosensitizing agent is given intravenously and the nature of the same is such that it involves the photosensitization of the cancer cells towards the light. The cancer cells that absorb the photosensitization agents are readily killed when exposed to the light.

Gene Therapy:- Mesothelioma treatment has undergone several changes over the years. A lot important discoveries have been registered for the same which include a range of therapeutic agents including chemotherapeutic agents mostly. But in the modern age where the genetics has developed as a strong arm of Medicine, Gene Therapy for the treatment of Mesothelioma has peaked. With the mortalities in Mesothelioma being very high, and the survival time of the patients being less than 1, the Gene Therapy is definitely promising. Gene Therapy for treatment of Mesothelioma involves insertion of specialized genes into the Malignant Mesothelioma cells and then inducing them in such a fashion that the cancerous histological nature of the cells shows a definitive regression. The whole stage of the treatment of Mesothelioma by Gene Therapy is set around the genetic level. The therapy involves replacement of mutated tumor suppressor gene by a normal copy of the same gene. The gene identified for the same process is p53, this gene is replaced by a normal copy of gene. What follows next is that the cell cycle is inhibited suppressing the growth of cell and further preventing the development of a proper vascular system for the tumor tissue. A lack of proper tissue vascular system is followed by ‘programmed cell death’ often known as apoptosis. The apoptosis presents fragmentation of the nuclear DNA and removal of the cells from the tissue. The elimination of the onco-genes in the Mesothelioma therapy is the suit followed for Gene Therapy of Mesothelioma so it is rightly nicknamed as ‘Knockout Gene Therapy’.

Immunotherapy:- This treatment involves treatment of Mesothelioma by harnessing the patients own immune cells to kill the cancer cells. Normally, the body’s own immune system is unable to identify the cancer cells and eliminate them. So for the treatment of patients, the immunity cells are targeted to fend off the malignant Mesothelioma tissue. Immunotherapy for Mesothelioma is of following two types :-

Active Immunology.
Passive Immunology.

Active Immunology involves the use of certain specialized Immunological cells of the body called Interferon and Interleukins. The drugs designed to catalyze the process of Active Immunology force the body’s immune system to kill or starve the cancer cells. These drugs are termed as vaccines as they work on the lines of traditional vaccine system development. The malignant cells are removed from the body of individuals and then they are treated in the laboratory under a specialized cycle. Further as this vaccine is injected in the blood system of the patient’s immune system. The body identifies these cells and activates the Killer Cells, thus identifying the Cancer cells by the Marker cells initially and then fending off the Cancer cells.

Passive Immunology is partially different on the lines of action as it does not activate the patient’s immune system directly but uses Cytokines in the treatment of Mesothelioma. The patient’s malignant cell has a specific type of antigen; the molecular structure of these antigens is unique for each kind of cancer. Mesothelioma antigens are further attacked by the Antibodies prepared in the lab and this passively helps in boosting patient’s immunity response towards the malignant cells.