The success of mesothelioma treatments depends on the stage of the cancer at the time of detection. Physicians follow several treatment methods, both traditional and modern. Conventional therapies include surgery, radiation and medications like chemotherapy or a combination of two or three of these. More than two-thirds of stage-1 and stage-2 mesothelioma patients usually get their lives extended by five years or more, and surgery itself has succeeded in doing the same in around sixteen percent of all cases. Surgery involves removing the cancerous growth through surgical incisions. The most common surgery here is the decortication or pleurectomy in which the chest lining is removed. The extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), which removes the lining around the lung, inside the chest, the hemi-diaphragm and pericardium, is less common.

Radiation is best suited for patients with localized disease. Radiation is also resorted to post-operatively as a consolidating treatment. Sometimes the whole hemi-thorax is subjected to radiation in consonance with chemotherapy. This type of treatment has extended the lives of thousands of mesothelioma patients. Radiation can also act as a preventive measure against the spread of malignant cells.

In spite of all its side effects, chemotherapy has proved to be the best of all the present mesothelioma treatments imparted. It is a less aggressive treatment than radiation or surgery. The process is usually long drawn out, physically and emotionally difficult for the affected.

The new technique immunotherapy, aimed at improving the immunity of the body has not given a stable result till now. Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy aids in enhancing the penetration of anti-cancer drugs. In this treatment, the drugs are heated to a particular degree of temperature before given to the patients. Numerous researches are going on to provide more useful mesothelioma treatments.

The extent of the disease, the age of the patient and his or her overall health are taken into consideration before starting treatment. Before starting the process, the patient needs to find out the best suitable treatment, its costs, advantages or disadvantages of the treatment strategy followed, risk factors and chances of survival. In cases where aggressive mesothelioma treatments are impossible, palliative treatment, which treats only the symptoms and not the root cause, is followed.

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