‘Chemotherapy’

Treatment of Symptoms of the Disease

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

According to the researchers, patients who received chemotherapy lived an average of slightly more than those who received standard treatment.

But this, say scientists, is not a statistical test and can be misleading.

Moreover, they add, chemotherapy did not improve quality of life of these patients.

“Thousands of people are or will be affected by this deadly disease, and our study shows how difficult it is to treat mesothelioma,” said Dr Richard Stephens from the Medical Research Council.

“This is mainly because mesothelioma forms in the pleura, the layer lining the lung, which is very difficult to achieve,” he adds.

The results of the study, the researchers explain, show that real benefits are not obtained in the treatment of symptoms of the disease when chemotherapy is added to standard medications.

It is known that chemotherapy also has serious side effects, therefore, scientists say, people should not receive this therapy is not going to get proven benefits.

However, in another article in The Lancet, Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang of the Nevada Cancer Institute says that in another study where patients were given different combinations of chemotherapy drugs, survived half a year or more.

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Standard Treatment For Mesothelioma

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Malignant mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos, a mineral that was commonly used as building material, is often incurable.

But some specialists thought that chemotherapy may help prolong the patients life and improve their quality of life.

However, new research published in the medical journal The Lancet, found no benefit with this treatment.

Exposure

Asbestos is a group of minerals that occur naturally in the environment.

Due to its characteristics of strength and flexibility, this material was commonly used in various applications, mainly in construction.

However, when breathed in, asbestos fibers can lodge and accumulate in the lungs and cause injuries and diseases such as mesothelioma.

Currently there are laws around the world to control the use of asbestos, but thousands of people die each year because the symptoms can appear up to 50 years after exposure.

According to experts, these decades of delay between exposure and the onset of the disease means that cases continue to rise over the next five years.

The study, conducted by the Medical Research Council UK, analyzed the cases of 409 patients, mainly in the country which had received the standard treatment for mesothelioma.

This usually includes steroid drugs and radiotherapy sessions.

Some patients in the study received additional doses of chemotherapy to compare the effect of his illness.

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Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

mesothelioma-treatment-2

Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment
There are treatments for all patients with malignant mesothelioma. Uses three kinds of treatment:

* Surgery (taking out the cancer)

* Radiation therapy (using high doses of X-rays or other high-energy rays

to kill cancer cells)

* Chemotherapy (using drugs to fight cancer)

Surgery is a common treatment for malignant mesothelioma. The doctor may remove part of the lining of the chest or abdomen and some of the tissue lying around. Depending on how far the cancer has spread, you can also remove a lung in an operation called a pneumonectomy. Sometimes it also removes some of the muscle beneath the lungs that helps breathing (the diaphragm).

Radiation therapy using high energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external radiation therapy) or from putting materials that C (radioisotopes) and applied to the area where cancer cells are found through thin plastic tubes (internal radiation therapy).

If fluid has accumulated in the chest or abdomen, the doctor may drain the body by inserting a needle into the chest or abdomen and pulling with gentle suction. If fluid is removed from the chest, a procedure called thoracentesis, whereas if the procedure is performed in the abdomen is called paracentesis. The doctor may also put drugs into the chest through a tube to prevent the accumulation of extra fluid.

Chemotherapy involves using drugs to kill cancer cells. These can be taken orally or injected into a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment because the drug enters the bloodstream, travels through the body and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. In the case of mesothelioma, a drug may be administered directly into the chest (intrapleural chemotherapy).

Intraoperative photodynamic therapy is a new type of treatment that uses special drugs and light to kill cancer cells during surgery. To do this, is injected into a vein a drug that makes cancer cells more sensitive to light several days before surgery. During surgery to remove as much cancer as possible, a special light is used to illuminate the pleura. This treatment is being studied for early stages of mesothelioma in the chest.

Treatment by stage
Treatment depends on where the cancer is, how the disease has spread, your age and health status in general.

You might consider a treatment that is considered standard based on their effectiveness in a number of patients in past studies, or may choose to take part in a clinical trial. Not all patients are cured with standard therapy and some standard treatments may have more side effects than are desired. For these reasons, clinical trials are designed to find better ways to treat cancer patients and are based on the most current information. Are conducting clinical trials in various parts of the country for many patients with malignant mesothelioma.

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Treatment

Monday, June 28th, 2010

TreatmentChemotherapy:

The adjuvant chemotherapy should be administered 4-6 weeks after surgery and be continued por4 to 6 cycles. The most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents are doxorubicin (50-90mg/m2) for 4 weeks and mitomycin, who has lung toxicity in 12 mg/m2 for the same amount of time.

Combinations with other drugs increase the effect slightly. But given chemotherapy than those named, has no meaning for the little effect of the same in this condition.

Studies have shown that administration of chemotherapeutic agents in the pleural space, had better outcome than administered systemically. However, this scheme leaves out the protocol and should be considered better.

Radiation:

Malignant mesothelioma is a moderately radiosensitive tumor. But we must radiate throughout the hemithorax, which produce severe toxicity. (more…)

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Mouth sores caused by chemotherapy

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

chemotherapy What is mucositis (mouth sores) and how it relates to chemotherapy, radiation and other cancer treatments?

Mucositis is an inflammation of the lining of the walls of the upper digestive tract from mouth to stomach (mouth, lips, throat) and the surrounding soft tissue.

* Stomatitis refers to inflammation of the mouth.
* Esophagitis refers to inflammation of the esophagus. (more…)

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What I can do to feel better during chemotherapy?

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

chemotherapyJust think of chemotherapy can be very frightening. If you’re one of the many people whose cancer is treated with chemotherapy, your doctors, nurses and other members of the management team will support you against cancer before, during and after chemotherapy.

Also remember that you can seek support from friends and family. When you’re healthy, your friends make you feel good. Therefore, if you surround yourself with friends when you’re sick, you will greatly (more…)

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Where and when chemotherapy is given and its effect

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

chemotherapyYou may receive chemotherapy treatment in a hospital, a center for cancer treatment, the doctor’s office or home. Most teens return home once they receive chemotherapy treatment at a clinic or hospital. However, sometimes people who receive chemotherapy should remain in the hospital so doctors can monitor and manage side effects.

Some people receive chemotherapy every day, while others receive it every week or every month. Doctors use the word (more…)

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Chemotherapy

Monday, June 7th, 2010

ChemotherapyThe term “chemotherapy” refers to the use of medicines (drugs) to treat cancer. Cancer is a disease that causes body cells develop abnormally and grow uncontrollably. The cancer cells are rapidly dividing. The aim of chemotherapy is to interfere with how cells divide to prevent the spread of cancer and in some cases, even cure the disease, as this treatment helps the body get rid of cancer cells.

How is chemotherapy? (more…)

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Types Of Malignant Mesothelioma

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Pleural mesotheliomaSurgery.

Using 3 types of surgery in the treatment of Mesothelioma. Diagnostic surgery to obtain a sample for biopsy. It is performed by thoracoscopy, laparoscopy or surgery,pleural mediatinoscopia open. Secondly, palliative surgery include partial pleurectomy pleurodesis, thoracoscopy with pleurodesis and more rarely, pleuroperitoneal shunt. The third is curative surgery involving extrapleural pneumonectomy in order to remove much of the tumor. In most centers, this is surgery followed by adjuvant therapy. Not all patients are suitable for this procedure, which otherwise has a 6% mortality

Chemotherapy

Although there have been several chemotherapy regimens, none has proven to be curative. The two most useful (in the sense of reducing the tumor mass and improve the symptoms) are cisplatin + pemetrexed and gemcitabine cistaplatino +. In both cases, dexamethasone is recommended to add folic acid supplements and vitamin B12 (more…)

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Treating Chemotherapy

Friday, March 19th, 2010

surgeryChemotherapy is one of the methods acclimated to amusement those who accept had anaplasty to abolish annihilation tumors or those whose may be advised afterward surgery. Chemotherapy relies on drugs that assignment to abate the ad-measurement of the bump or rid the anatomy of the bump altogether. Acclimated abounding times in aggregate with radiation treatments, the capital ambition of chemotherapy is to stop the over extension of tumors into added areas in the body.

If your doctor has recommended chemotherapy, you may apprehension some accepted ancillary furnishings afterward the aboriginal few weeks. These ancillary furnishings include: nausea, constipation, diarrhea, beard loss, animal ancillary effects, and fatigue. These ancillary furnishings can account you to become annoyed during the day, feel depressed over your concrete appearance, and account you to not eat appropriately because of abdomen and digestive issues.

Over the years, doctors accept begin means to admonition their patients abate these ancillary furnishings and advance accustomed day to day lives while alleviate the blight that is central their bodies. (more…)

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