What Radical Mesothelioma Treatments Are Available?

Current radical mesothelioma treatments include chemotherapy treatments, radiation treatments, surgical treatments and experimental therapies and drugs. Research news reports the limited success of present treatments for Mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma research news indicates that traditional treatments viz. single or multi-drug chemotherapy has a response rate of about 20%. Radiation treatments, usually used in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy treatments can relieve pain and shrink tumors, making breathing easier. However, radiation treatments can also cause severe side effects.

New Mesothelioma Treatment Found Among Skin Cancer Creams

A group of scientists in Australia have discovered a new potential treatment for mesothelioma cancer victims with the application of two treatments normally reserved for skin cancer patients.

During several tests conducted on laboratory mice with advanced mesothelioma tumors, a skin cancer cream known as Imiquimod was combined with an anti-cancer drug, antiCD40. The two were applied to the mesothelioma mice and, according to researchers, 50 percent of the mice receiving the treatment therapy went into remission following treatment.

The Treatment Of Mesothelioma Patients

The prognosis for malignant mesothelioma remains disappointing, although there have been some modest improvements in prognosis from newer chemotherapies and multimodality treatments. Treatment of malignant mesothelioma at earlier stages has a better prognosis, but cures are exceedingly rare. Clinical behavior of the malignancy is affected by several factors including the continuous mesothelial surface of the pleural cavity which favors local metastasis via exfoliated cells, invasion to underlying tissue and other organs within the pleural cavity, and the extremely long latency period between asbestos exposure and development of the disease. The histological subtype and the patient's age and health status also help predict prognosis.