Cancer media and solution

Active control of the symptoms of mesothelioma in the chemotherapy study

According to a recent issue of British Medical Journal the Lancet, researchers have studied the effect of chemotherapy in mesothelioma. Because chemotherapy is not considered a success for treatment of mesothelioma, cancer, but a treatment for mesothelioma signs and symptoms of health professionals continue to question the usefulness of the procedure for control of symptoms.

The researchers studied 409 patients from all those suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma in parts of the world. Patients were randomized to a treatment of symptoms or treatment containing an active control treatment with two chemotherapy drugs. The study, "the active symptom control treatments include steroids, bronchodilators, pain-relieving drugs and palliative radiotherapy."

Following the study patients in both treatment options were compared, and as the investigators, "the addition of chemotherapy to control the symptoms did not show a significant benefit or advances in survival or quality of life" among the victims of mesothelioma.

What is mesothelioma, chemotherapy?

Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which cancer cells develop in a thin layer of tissue in the breast cranial cavity, which includes the lungs, also known as the pleura or peritoneum, the tissue lining the abdomen and most part of the body, according to National Cancer Institute (NCI).


According to American Cancer Society (ACS), chemotherapy is a treatment that uses chemicals that are usually administered via a catheter, the pill, injection or port, which is usually a round disc of metal or plastic, that when cancer cells begin to develop abnormal and uncontrolled division quickly. Chemotherapy is given for several reasons, but based on certain factors such as stage of cancer, a patient's age and health of a patient. For patients with mesothelioma, chemotherapy is not a method of treatment, but it is given to patients suffering from mesothelioma for several reasons, including:

* Stop the growth and spread of cancer, to fight cancer
* Minimize or reduce tumors - this method is also known as neoadjuvant chemotherapy
* The palliative chemotherapy on pain and other symptoms should be reduced
* The destruction of microscopic disease that remains after surgery, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy

Chemotherapy given as a catheter into a large vein in the body or a catheter is attached to a port that is placed on the chest under the skin for a time.

Living with Mesothelioma

Unfortunately, victims of mesothelioma receive more setbacks in his life-threatening, as currently there is no effective treatment against cancer death. But a person has the opportunity to participate in a number of clinical trials of treatment, and the ability to develop mesothelioma a request for financial compensation as payment for the condition, often associated with very expensive medical bills.