Is Mesothelioma Curable?| Treatment options

The unfortunate answer to this question is that mesothelioma is not a curable condition as of now. There is still a ways to go to finding a cure since mesothelioma is an aggressive form of cancer. Current research is focused on helping people with early-stage mesothelioma live longer.

Is Mesothelioma Curable?

The research has also focused on prevention of mesothelioma as opposed to finding a cure. Researchers are attempting to identify mutations that can make people susceptible to mesothelioma as well as some of the risk factors.

The current focus of mesothelioma research is on helping those with the disease live longer. The effort is aimed at finding the right course of treatment that can give the patient a longer life with a higher quality. Progress is being made in this area although mesothelioma remains a deadly disease. Below, some of the treatment advances for mesothelioma will be discussed.

Treatment for Mesothelioma

There are three traditional treatments for mesothelioma. Each will be discussed here in more detail:

Surgery – There are several reasons why a doctor would operate on a patient with mesothelioma. First, doctors may need to physically view the lungs in order to diagnose the disease. As mentioned elsewhere, mesothelioma is very hard to diagnose just from the symptoms and the disease is very rare. Sometimes, a firsthand view of the tumor may be necessary in order to appropriately diagnose it.

Second, surgery may be a means of attempting to remove the tumor and prolonging the patient’s life.  While the disease may not be completely cured as a result of surgery, removing the tumor can at least give the patient extra time. Not every patient will be deemed healthy enough for surgery. Some tumors have progressed to the point where surgery is not a feasible option.

Third, some patients may have to undergo surgery for palliative reasons. While their disease is incurable and has likely rapidly spread, the tumor is causing the patient severe pain, taking away any quality of life they may have during their remaining time. Palliative surgery is meant to reduce pain for a short period of time. While the disease cannot be cured, palliative surgery at least improved life quality and may give the patient some additional time.

Chemotherapy – This option is often combined with surgery and it can prolong the life of those suffering from mesothelioma.  There is new research that has shown that multiple rounds of chemotherapy can actually help prolong the survival time of someone with peritoneal mesothelioma. Chemotherapy is also the preferred method treatment for those with the more common pleural mesothelioma. Whether chemotherapy is an option depends on the location of the tumor as well as the progression of the disease.

Radiation – Surgery and chemotherapy are usually the preferred option for a mesothelioma patient. When these are not available, physicians may opt for radiation in an attempt to control the spread of the disease. Radiation is usually viewed as a palliative option, but recent advances in this area are prolonging patents’ lives.  Radiation can either be given through an external beam or through an implant. It is designed to control symptoms. However, sometimes radiation can be a primary treatment when combined with surgery as a means to prevent reoccurrence of the disease.

Each of the three above treatments are often used in conjunction with each other. Most treatments for mesothelioma will involve a combination of these options.  This is also known as a multi-modal treatment.

The FDA-approved course of chemotherapy treatment consists of the drugs Alimta and cisplatin. This is the first-line therapy that tries to cure the patient of the disease. In some cases, the chemotherapy can slow the spread of mesothelioma although it does not necessarily cure the body of the disease.

Because mesothelioma is so rare and aggressive, treatment options beyond these three are limited and new ways to treat the disease are infrequent. However, the FDA recently approved a new medical device that it intended to treat mesothelioma. This device is called the NovoTTF and it is meant to work in conjunction with chemotherapy.

While this device may not be a cure for the disease, it is meant to disrupt the process whereby mesothelioma cells divide. Patients who are not able to have surgery or qualify for other treatment options may receive this device as a means to prolong their survival and lessen their pain.  This new device is part palliative and partly meant to improve survival time. In trials, the survival time of patients who used this device was increased by six months to a year from the average mesothelioma patient.

There are various other treatments that are in different stages of research that can possible help prolong the lives of mesothelioma patients. Still, the ultimate goal of finding a cure for the disease is many years in the future.