Mesothelioma Treatment Options

Mesothelioma is an aggressive type of cancer that requires an effective treatment plan. The disease is incurable. But doctors are often able to control asbestos-related disease and prolong the life of the patient through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

The most effective treatment plan will take into account the patient’s overall health, age and the advancement of the mesothelioma. As the cancer progresses, the treatment approach focuses more on easing the patient’s pain and discomfort rather than on killing the cancer cells. It’s important to understand your legal options as well so you can make informed decisions with your family’s future in mind.

If you or a family member has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or asbestos-related disease, contact a New York mesothelioma attorney at Belluck & Fox LLP. Our attorneys handle asbestos disease litigation across upstate New York, providing effective and individualized representation. Whether you live in Buffalo, Rochester, Corning, Elmira, Ithaca, Massena, Oswego, Poughkeepsie, Watertown, Lackawanna or Syracuse, we may be able to help. Let us review your legal options free of charge.

Call Belluck & Fox LLP toll free at 1-877-MESOTHELIOMA or (877) 637-6843 or use our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.

Conventional Mesothelioma Treatment

Your cancer doctor may suggest a multi-faceted approach to arrest the growth of mesothelioma tumors. The approach typically includes surgery to remove visible tumors, along with chemotherapy and radiation to kill cancer cells. This kind of multi-pronged approach is considered the most effective.

Mesothelioma Patient Surgery Options

You should understand that surgery is not suitable for all mesothelioma patients. It depends on the stage of the mesothelioma, the location of the tumors and the patient’s overall health. The goal of surgery is to cut away as many of the tumors as technically feasible. It’s often difficult to do because mesothelioma forms a mass of interconnected tumors amid healthy tissue.

The surgical procedures that may be used include:

• Pleurectomy / Decortication (P/D): The procedures remove the diseased lining of the lung and visible tumors, but leaves the lung intact.  Patients diagnosed with early stage mesothelioma are often candidates for this procedure.
• Extra-Pleural Pneumonectomy (EPP): The most aggressive surgery, the EPP involves the removal of one lung in addition to the diseased lining of the lung, lining of the heart and a portion of the diaphragm. The radical surgery involves a lengthy recovery and requires a skilled surgeon. It’s often performed at hospitals that specialize in treating mesothelioma patients.
• Debulking: The goal of the procedure is to remove a portion of the mesothelioma tumor to relieve symptoms, even though removing all of a more advanced cancer is not possible. The aim is to make the patient as comfortable as possible rather than to cure the disease. The procedure also may involve drainage of fluid from the chest cavity.

Non-Surgical Procedures

Palliative procedures are used to provide relief for patients by treating the symptoms of mesothelioma.

• Mesothelioma Chest Tube Drainage: A medical procedure may be performed that causes the pleura membrane around the lungs to stick together and prevents the buildup of fluid. As the space closes, fluid drains out through the tube.
• Shunt: As pleural mesothelioma advances, the lining of the chest cavity becomes thicker, preventing the lung from expanding. A shunt or catheter is inserted, allowing the patient to manually control drainage of pleural fluid.

Chemotherapy

Most patients diagnosed with mesothelioma in upstate New York will undergo chemotherapy at some point. Chemotherapy is usually given through an IV so the drugs enter the bloodstream directly. Chemotherapy may be used to reduce the size of mesothelioma tumors prior to surgery. It may be used after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells that doctors weren’t able to see. Chemotherapy may stop the spread of mesothelioma and alleviate some of the symptoms.

A drawback of chemotherapy is that the medicine is an indiscriminate killer. It is highly toxic and kills healthy cells and cancer cells. Chemotherapy medicines carry side effects including loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea, hair loss, low blood cell counts and vomiting.

Mesothelioma is treated with a combination of chemotherapy drugs. The current chemotherapy treatment regimen for mesothelioma uses a combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin. Pemetrexed, known by the brand name Alimta, is the only chemotherapy drug that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for use in conjunction with cisplatin for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Other drugs used to treat mesothelioma include: gemcitabine, carboplatin, epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, vinorelbine, paclitaxel, doxorubicin and methotrexate.

Radiation Treatment for Mesothelioma

Radiation is a primary treatment for mesothelioma patients. Radiation therapy uses powerful X-rays to shrink tumors and help destroy cancer cells. It also may be used to relieve pain for patients with advanced mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma tumors may be located near vital organs, limiting the ability of doctors to use radiation in high enough doses to arrest the cancer without damaging other organs. But recent advances in radiation therapy permit doctors to pinpoint deep-seated tumors with more precision. They include

• Proton Therapy - Proton therapy uses a beam of protons rather than X-rays to blast the tumor site with radiation. Proton therapy is considered one of the most effective ways to shrink tumors in mesothelioma patients.
• Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy - The procedure relies on a system of precise coordinates to deliver a single high dose of radiation to a tumor, improving the cure rates.
• Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy - IMRT allows the treating physician to aim the radiation beam to address tumors that are wrapped around other structures. IMRT is the latest technology available in radiation.

Contact Massena Mesothelioma Lawyer | Oswego Mesothelioma Attorney

If you or a loved one in upstate New York is undergoing treatment for mesothelioma, you may have a legal right to seek compensation to help pay your medical expenses. The NY mesothelioma attorneys of Belluck & Fox, LLP, can help. We handle mesothelioma cases throughout upstate New York, including Oswego County, Jefferson County and St. Lawrence County.

Reach us using our online contact form or call Belluck & Fox LLP’s mesothelioma lawyers toll-free at 1-877-MESOTHELIOMA or (877) 637-6843.