Mesothelioma Cancer - What Type of Treatment is Available?

The type of treatment available depends on the location of the cancer, the stages of the disease, the age of the patient and the general health of the patient. Treatment for mesothelioma includes the following:
• Chemotherapy - the use of drugs in order to kill cancer cells • Radiation therapy - the use of high energy rays to kill cancer cells • Surgery - the removal of cancer and other tissues by surgery • Clinical Trials - research studies • New methods and approaches • Alternative medicine • Palliative - treatment for the symptoms of the cancer
Chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are called the standard treatment and a combination of these is usually used. A clinical study is research used for the sake of evaluating a certain treatment. It usually involves a different approach from that of standard treatment. Not all patients qualify for every type of treatment. Therefore it is important to know what type of treatment do you qualify to and what does each procedure entails. It is also important to learn what the side effects are since they vary from procedure to procedure and may be quite severe. Further more, sometimes by following a certain procedure; you may limit your eligibility to follow other procedures. Therefore it is important to be well informed. Sometimes mesothelioma may be in an advanced state or the patient may be very old and treatment options may be quite limited because of the severity of certain treatments. Therefore it may be more appropriate to alleviate the symptoms and not try to cure the disease (palliative care).