Other Mesothelioma Treatment Options

Other Mesothelioma Treatment Options

Other Mesothelioma  Treatment Options - Treating Mesothelioma can depend on the location of the cancer, the stage of the illness, and health of the patient. Usually the treatment advised by your doctor will include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. It’s likely a combination of these procedures will be administered. However, there are numerous other beneficial ways to treat mesothelioma in addition.

Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy is a relatively new treatment option for mesothelioma. This aids in the destruction of cancer cells by using the energy from light in combination with he drug Photofrin. Although the use of this therapy is new it has already shown promising medical results in treating numerous types of cancer. More specifically, this revolutionary procedure involves the patient being injected with Photofrin, a drug that directly bonds to mesothelioma cells. Via a fiber optic cable, the doctor inserts the Photofrin into the patient’s chest. When high intensity or laser light comes in direct contact with the drug it becomes active and destroys the mesothelioma tumor cells. This chemical substance is considered extraordinary for that reason.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is an innovative treatment, which is still fairly new to the medical field. The process involves the placement of genes into a patients cells and tissues to treat the cancer, and in doing so the defective cells (mutant allele) are replaced with a functional cells. Although this technology is still being developed, it has been used for mesothelioma successfully.

CATEGORIES OF SOMATIC GENE THERAPY

ex vivo: which means exterior, the cells are modified outside the body and then transplanted back in again. In vivo, which means interior, genes are manipulated in cells still in the body.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy uses the body’s immune system to reject the cancer. The idea is stimulating the mesothelioma patient’s immune system to react and aggressively fight the malignant cells contributing to the disease. Immunotherapy can be carried out in two ways:
#1. Through immunization of the patient, where their immune system is trained to recognize tumor cells as targets to be destroyed.
# 2. By providing therapeutic antibodies as drugs, in which case the patient's immune system is engaged to fight tumor cells by the therapeutic antibodies.

Palliative Care

Palliative care concentrates on physical, psychological, social and spiritual elements of distress for victims of life threatening diseases, as well as their families. It is a very common type of medical care that focuses on reducing the severity of the mesothelioma disease symptoms, rather than providing a cure. The purpose is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people trying to manage this serious, complex illness.

If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma it’s likely you are experiencing a range of varying symptoms. Often, the level of pain and agony experienced with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease is very high.

PRACTICING PALLIATIVE CARE:

• Prescription Of Several Different Pain Medications
• Stress Management
• Meditation
• Massage Therapy
• Behavior Modifications
• Symptom Relief
• Nursing Care
• Physical Therapy
• Counseling For The Patient And Their Family

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