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| Treatment of Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Once the patient has been diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, the treatment for the same depends upon various factors. Quite a lot of things are taken into consideration while deciding upon the kind of treatment that has to be carried out. Some of these factors include up to what stage the cancer has advanced, the spread of the cancer and how the cancer cells appear under the microscope. Other factors that are also taken into consideration are the physical health of the patient and the kind of treatment that he wishes to undergo if the option is viable.
Several kinds of treatment that can be carried out are:
Surgery: There are several factors associated with the surgical removal of the cancerous cells from the peritoneal region. One of the major factors is the physical capacity of the patient to undergo the process of surgery. Another factor is the extent of the spread of the cancerous tissues within the region and the stage at which the cancer is diagnosed. Many a times the surgery is performed in conjunction with other methods like radiation. In surgery the cancerous tissue is clinically removed from the peritoneal region. There are generally three types of surgeries which are curative surgery, palliative surgery, and diagnostic surgery. Out of all these it is only the curative surgery which is capable of removing the cancerous tissue completely from the body. Other types of surgeries like thoracentasis are generally palliative and diagnostic in nature and are performed only to provide some kind of symptomatic relief from the pain.
Chemotherapy: In the procedure of chemotherapy generally drugs and medicines are administered intravenously into the peritoneal cavity to kill the cancerous cells that are multiplying. Some of the most common drugs that are used during chemotherapy are Cisplatin, Almita. Howsoever this procedure of destroying the cancerous cells has some negative effects. This is mainly due to the reason that along with the cancerous cells, some of the healthy cells which are also mutating get destroyed.
To fight mesothelioma the erstwhile methods of chemotherapy are quite ineffective. The new methods somehow are more promising.
Radiation: Radiation is another of the methods which are used to fight peritoneal mesothelioma. It is more often than not used in conjunction with the surgery. On it own however the radiation method can only be used to provide symptomatic relief to the patient. Generally there are two methods of radiation out of which the one that suits the patient is opted for. One method is the external beam radiation method in which the cancerous cells are targeted with the radiation in order to destroy them. Another method which is a relatively new method is the brachytherapy method in which the cancerous tissues are exposed to radioactive material in strong, concentrated doses so as to destroy them while doing minimum damage to the surrounding areas.
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