Chemotherapy And Radiation: God, A Few Days More!
Mesothelioma is a cancer. This fact is well known to everyone in New York, but still hope persists. People with Mesothelioma undergo rigorous Chemotherapy and Radiation treatments with the hope that they would be able to live for a few days more with their family and friends.
Drugs are used in Chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells. It has a systemic approach by targeting all cancer cells spread throughout the body. This is effected by injecting the drugs into the blood stream of the patient. The drugs are also available in the form of pills. In fact, Chemotherapy is the key treatment of Mesothelioma. The cancer cells show a tendency of abnormal growth by multiplying and dividing and chemotherapy is used to restrict this uncontrolled growth. It is not a curative approach but rather it aims to shrink the size of the tumor and this is a necessary step before the surgery of the tumor. Even after the surgery, chemotherapy is continued to get rid of the residual cancerous cells. Normally, combination therapy is helpful in treating Mesothelioma. Combination therapy is the form of Chemotherapy in which more than one drug is used to treat the disease. But this treatment might have some side effects. AlimtaR + cisplatin, is the current chemotherapy standard for treating Pleural Mesothelioma.
In Radiation therapy, powerful X- rays are used to destroy the malignant cells. Radiation may be either internal or external. In external radiation, the rays come out from a machine and the affected area of the body is exposed to these rays. But in internal radiation, thin plastic tubes are used to bring radio active materials in direct contact with the cancer cells. But in Pleural Mesothelioma, the radiation therapy also affects the neighbor organs like liver, heart and lungs. Although radiation therapy can eradicate pain in certain cases but its use depends on the size of the tumor and its effect on other vital organs.