TREATING MESOTHELIOMA WITH CHEMOTHERAPY

Treatment Background & Statistics:

The specific treatment of Mesothelioma via the use of conventional therapies - in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy-based treatments on both Stage I and Stage II Mesothelioma - has proven to be significantly successful.

On average, such treatment has been 74.6 percent successful in terms of remission; resulting in the lengthening of life-spans by at least five years – and, in some cases, even longer.

This is far greater than the significantly-lower 16.3 percent survival-rate for patients whose only treatment has been surgery.

Both the specific course of treatment and the particular nature of treatment are chiefly determined by the staging, development and overall aggressive nature of the Mesothelioma in each individual patient.

Treating Mesothelioma via Chemotherapy:

Chemotherapy can be defined as the treatment of disease by the utilization of chemicals that kill cells, and specifically those cells of micro-organisms and/or cancer.

Chemotherapy works by killing cells that divide rapidly – which is one of the chief characteristics of cancer-cells.

Unfortunately, this also means that chemotherapy may harm cells in the body that divide rapidly under normal circumstances, including cells in the bone marrow, the digestive tract and in hair-follicles.

This can result in the most commonly-seen side-effects of chemotherapy: (a) myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells); (b) mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract); and (c) alopecia (partial or complete hair-loss).

Currently, chemotherapy is the only existing treatment for Mesothelioma that has been conclusively demonstrated to significantly increase survival-rates in both random and controlled Mesothelioma trials.

A study published in 2003 compared the use of Cisplatin (a platinum-based chemotherapy drug) alone, with the use of a combination of Cisplatin and Pemetrexed (also a chemotherapy drug) in patients who had not previously received chemotherapy for malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.

The trial revealed that patients whose chemotherapy treatment was based on a combination of Cisplatin and Pemetrexed had a median survival of 13.3 months, which compared to only 10 months for patients whose chemotherapy treatment was solely Cisplatin-based.

Notably, Pemetrexed-related side-effects were significantly less in those patients who were also receiving daily, oral Folate (500mcg) and intramuscular Vitamin B12 (1000mcg) over the course of a 9-week period.

In February 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Pemetrexed for chemotherapy-based treatment of malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.

Important Notice:

It is very important to be aware of the fact that unanswered questions still exist with respect to (a) when, specifically, might be the optimum time for chemotherapy treatment to start; and (b) the number of cycles of chemotherapy treatment that may be required to ensure a significant improvement in the patient’s condition and life-expectancy.