What are the Treatments for Mesothelioma?
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer typically caused by exposure at some point to Asbestos, it can be overwhelming to consider what is next. People who are diagnosed understandably want to know treatment options may be available to them.
A Three-Step Approach
The treatment of mesothelioma often happens in stages. For those people who may qualify for a surgery in order to remove what has been already found through imaging and biopsies as cancerous mesothelioma tumors, a three-step approach is common. These three steps or treatments involve chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. Each one of these steps is highly individualized for each person so to give the best treatments for their specific needs.
The overall stage approach is referred to Multimodality treatment. It is an aggressive and lengthy series of treatments shown through many scientific trials and much real-world experience to be the best approach for offering the best results for potential curing or at the least extending the life of those diagnosed with mesothelioma. In order to undergo this treatment strategy patients, after they are diagnosed, must be carefully evaluated to see if they first of all can tolerate the treatments, and also whether such treatments will benefit the patient. The treatments one undergoes must be measured by the benefits versus the risks that accompany the stages involved.
After an initial review of your case, and the personal care plan is initiated, you will begin the treatment process. Many patients, at the direction of the surgeon that is part of your team, will suggest patients pursue neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.
Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is chemotherapy given prior to a surgery in order to reduce the size and severity of a tumor before it is removed. Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with certain drugs. These drugs are specifically targeted to treat and number of specific cancers, including mesothelioma. If the chemotherapy is successful, the tumor will be reduced and therefore easier to remove when surgery does occur.
In some cases surgery will precede chemotherapy with the same goal, reduction and removal of the cancer’s tumor.
After chemotherapy and surgery patients will often then undergo radiation therapy targeted to the area where the tumor or tumors were located, to treat the mesothelioma in attempt to ensure that the cancer’s cells do not survive and then grow again. With Mesothelioma commonly affecting the chest cavity or lungs, the radiation is targeted to the chest with special mapping and targeting to very specific places to optimize its effects.
After each one of these steps, in whatever order it is undertaken, patients are regularly reviewed and re-reviewed to see their progress, see how they are tolerating the treatments, and to calibrate any new or different steps to be undertaken.
Contact Our Lawyers
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with Mesothelioma and believe that it may be from exposure to Asbestos, contact our lawyers at Charles Boyk Law today so we can discuss these important issues with you or your loved one. We are experienced in Mesothelioma and with the special issues that arise from this diagnosis. We will listen and work hard to see what asbestos related claims you may be able to bring. Contact our caring and compassionate team today.
