Treating Mesothelioma

Depending on several factors, including cell type, staging, previous health conditions, a recently diagnosed mesothelioma patient may have several choices with regards to treatment options, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy. There also may be several active clinical trials seeking candidates.

There are several physicians including surgeons, surgical oncologists and oncologists who have experience in diagnosing and treating mesothelioma.

Surgical Choices

Chemotherapy

  • News and Agents - Chemotherapy is the general term for any treatment involving the use of chemical agents to stop cancer cells from growing. Chemotherapy can eliminate cancer cells at sites great distances from the original cancer. As a result, chemotherapy is considered a systemic treatment.
  • Side Effects - People with cancer are often concerned with what chemotherapy side effects are going to occur during their treatment. They often hear about how terrible chemotherapy side effects are and how sick you can feel.
  • The Argument Against Chemotherapy as a Stand-Alone Treatment for Mesothelioma (5/14/2010)

Immunotherapy

  • Immunotherapy is based on the body's natural defense system, which protects us against a variety of diseases. For many years, physicians believed that the immune system was effective only in combating infectious diseases caused by such invading agents as bacteria and viruses.
  • Interferon belong to a group of proteins known as cytokines. They are produced naturally by white blood cells in the body (or in the laboratory) in response to infection, inflammation, or stimulation. The are normally produced by the body in response to infection.
  • Interlueken is a biological response modifier (substance that can improve the body's natural response to infection and disease) that helps the immune system fight infection and cancer. These substances are normally produced by the body. They are also made in the laboratory for use in treating cancer and other diseases

Radiation Therapy

  • IMRT - Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
  • RFA - Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation

Gene Therapy

  • Gene Therapy is the is the insertion of genes into an individual's cells and tissues to treat a disease, such as a hereditary disease in which a deleterious mutant allele is replaced with a functional one. Although the technology is still in its infancy, it has been used with some success. Antisense therapy is not strictly a form of gene therapy, but is a genetically-mediated therapy and is often considered together with other methods.

Clinical Trials - last updated May 18, 2010

  • Clinical trials are generally considered to be biomedical or health-related research studies in human beings that follow a pre-defined protocol.

Novel Therapies

  • Introduction - Several new agents have recently been approved or are soon to be approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer.[1] These agents are very interesting compounds, and further research is needed to determine their precise role in the treatment of cancer
  • Chemoprevention is the use of natural or synthetic substances to reduce the risk of developing cancer, or to reduce the chance that cancer will recur (come back).
  • Biological Targets
  • Anti-Angiogenesis is the proliferation of a network of blood vessels that penetrates into cancerous growths, supplying nutrients and oxygen and removing waste products.
  • Cryoablation is an alternative minimally invasive procedure, showing promise with mesothelioma patients. It uses controlled freezing to dissipate small cancer tumors in a relatively safe and quick manner. With the use of a large needle, compressed argon gas is applied to the targeted tissue, killing the cells it touches.
  • Additional Novel Therapies

Lifestyle

  • Patient Care - Protecting the Victim, Cancer Nutrition Tips, Spirituality Coping with Mesothelioma, Diet choices during cancer treatment, Eating Hints For Cancer Patients; Before, During & After Treatment, Locating Financial Assistance for Cancer Patients, Keep Fit. 
  • Stress - Patients diagnosed with terminal cancer undergo dramatic changes physically and psychologically. Sometimes these changes directly impact a patient's health by spurring cancer growth.
  • Diet - Nutrition and the Cancer Survivor, a concise, accessible publication by the American Institute for Cancer Research, dishes out a few simple rules for health and provides some guidelines for eating to prevent a recurrence of cancer, if not merely to eat healthily.
  • Beer? - Could resveratrol-laced beer help lower the risk of mesothelioma?  Read an interesting idea here.  But note, adding an anti-cancer molecule to beer doesn't make it drinkable or bio-available. We think a better approach is to amplify the anti-oxidant and anti-cancer flavonoids found in hops (e.g., xanthohumol) and add said souped up hops to the wort during fermentation. Stay tuned.

Alternative Treatment Options

  • High dose of ascorbic acid induces cell death in mesothelioma cells (3/3/10)
    Intravenous administration of ascorbic acid significantly decreased the growth rate of mesothelioma tumor inoculated in mice. This data suggests that ascorbic acid may have benefits for patients with mesothelioma. More...
  • Natural Remedy Oncolyn Claims to be Effective in Mesothelioma Treatment. (3/3/10)
    The makers of Oncolyn, a plant-derived natural anticancer remedy, claim that taking the tablets "caused objective and subjective improvement of patients with different types of cancers,” including mesothelioma. More...
  • ADDHelpSite.com Resources Page, ITL Cancer Clinic, Cancell, Gerson Therapy, American Biologics, More..
  • Estrogen receptor-beta affects the prognosis of human malignant mesothelioma. (10/14/2009)
    Statistically women often have less aggressive tumors and survive longer with mesothelioma than men. Researchers found that the more estrogen mesothelioma cells contain, the less the cancer cells grew, therefore revealing the need for more studies regarding the therapeutic use of estrogen in mesothelioma patients. More...
  • Photodynamic therapy as an innovative treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma. (10/14/2009)
    Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of the pleura is an experimental treatment aimed at eradicating residual microscopic disease after macroscopic complete resection of mesothelioma. Immunologic effects and survival rates have been sufficiently rewarding to merit ongoing development of this combination of surgical technique and PDT. More...
  • Induction of necrosis and cell cycle arrest in murine cancer cell lines by Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) oil and terpinen-4-ol. (10/14/2009)
    This study suggests that tea tree oil, traditionally used for its topical anti-fungal and antibiotic properties, can kill mouse mesothelioma cells in vitro. The tree oil had significant anti-proliferative activity against aggressive tumor cell lines, but more research is needed. More...

Comparison Studies