Mesothelioma corresponds to less than to 1 % of all the cancers that is detected in today’s health condition of a person. There have been many cases about this disease, almost 4 to 5 cases every month in a larger medical center. The treatment for this disease may be as difficult as it is to diagnose. Not all doctors can assist their patients completely because specialists are required to evaluate the condition.
Mesothelioma chemotherapy uses chemical substance to cure this disease. Significant numbers of patients who have undergone other mesothelioma treatments such as radiotherapy and surgical treatment, but results are not great enough, reason why continued research and development of newly mesothelioma chemotherapy are being done.
Nevertheless, mesothelioma chemotherapy is one great option to lessen the burden and manage the pain felt by the patient. There are two types of mesothelioma chemotherapy: the traditional and the new mesothelioma treatments. They are not as healing as they should be, but as always concealed, they can help in the treatment period.
Most of the time combined modality chemotherapy is used in union with other treatment types like radiation therapy and surgical treatment. Intensity modulated radiation therapy is also used by some doctors, as well as neoadjuvant chemotherapy which is used with the purpose of decreasing the size of the tumor mass preceding a surgical treatment.
Adjuvant mesothelioma chemotherapy is used if there is a risk of cancer recurrence, usually subsequent to surgical treatment. Another known treatment is the palliative chemotherapy which is used to cure the symptoms of the disease.
The doctor will also evaluate the patient’s chemotherapy dosage, which usually differs from the body surface area of the patient. Body surface area is a rough calculation that can help in determining the volume of the body. This dosage approach is intended to give the ideal balance of chemotherapy treatment at the same time avoid any toxic side effects.
The patients should understand that undergoing mesothelioma chemotherapy may cause them fatigue, physically and mentally. Other than this, included in the treatment of mesothelioma, they are likely to experience hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and lowered number of red blood cells.
Constant chemical treatments also include weakened immune system, secondary neoplasm, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as the following health problems:
Hepatoxicity, nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity and cardiotoxicity.
Mesothelioma chemotherapy has been used in treating the cancer long before other treatment options have been discovered. Chemotherapy treatments would be more effective if only dealing with moderately younger cancer cells because they have not yet developed a solid tumor mass. Solid tumor mass is more likely difficult to treat by using mesothelioma chemotherapy since they have matured and increased in size already.