Mesothelioma:Treatment

Treatment of malignant mesothelioma using conventional therapies in combination with radiation and or chemotherapy on stage I or II Mesothelioma have proved on average 74.6 percent successful in extending the patients life span by five years or more [commonly known as remission][this percentage may increases or decrease depending on date of discovery / stage of malignant development] (Oncology Today, 2009). Treatment course is primarily determined by the staging or development. This is unlike traditional treatment such as surgery by itself which has proved only be 16.3 percent likely to extend a patients life span by five years or more [commonly known as remission]. 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.

Surgery

Surgery, by itself, has proved disappointing. However, research indiates varied success when used in combination with radation and cheemotherapy (Duke, 2008) A pleurectomy/decortication is the most common surgery, in which the lining of the chest is removed. Less common is an extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), in which the lung, lining of the inside of the chest, the hemi-diaphragm and the pericardium are removed.