TREATING MESOTHELIOMA WITH CHEMOTHERAPY

Doctors use chemotherapy to kill mesothelioma cells throughout the body. This method of treatment can be used on its own, as a palliative (pain-relieving) treatment, or combined with other treatments in a multimodal therapy.

When doctors use chemotherapy to treat mesothelioma, they use it as a palliative treatment, to ease pain caused by symptoms of the disease. Chemotherapy is also effective as a curative treatment when its combined with other therapies like surgery or radiation therapy. But only a specialist can develop an effective course of chemotherapy.

Improved Prognosis: The most obvious benefit of chemotherapy is that it helps people live longer. Chemotherapy is most effective when combined with other treatments like radiation and surgery.

Personalization: Some patients don’t respond to certain chemotherapy drugs. But mesothelioma specialists can develop a specific chemotherapy regimen based on each individual’s needs.

Talk to someone on our Patient Help Team and get help finding a specialist now.

When doctors combine chemotherapy with other treatments, like surgery or radiation therapy, they do so in 3 ways: neoadjuvant, intraoperative, and adjuvant. The method used depends on the cancer stage and location of the mesothelioma.

Doctors also use chemotherapy by itself, as a single agent, to reduce pain caused by symptoms of mesothelioma. Single agent chemotherapy is a first-line treatment for patients who aren’t eligible for surgery due to the advanced stage of their mesothelioma.

Medical studies have shown that combining two or more chemotherapy drugs increases survival rates more than the use of a single drug. In one study, researchers reported that the combination of Alimta and cisplatin improved the overall survival rate of patients over the use of cisplatin alone.

The combination of Alimta and cisplatin produced an overall survival rate of 12.1 months while cisplatin alone produced a survival rate of 9.3 months.

Medical researchers are always testing new combinations of chemotherapy drugs to find one that works the best. In a recent clinical trial, they used oxaliplatin and gemcitabine, producing an overall survival rate of 14 months in patients with pleural mesothelioma.

Doctors use 2 methods to give chemotherapy to their patients. The way the doctor administers the drugs is based on the patient's overall health, tolerance to certain drugs, and the cancer stage of the mesothelioma.

Side effects occur when chemotherapy drugs damage healthy cells as they attack and kill mesothelioma. Patients react to chemotherapy in different ways, depending on their tolerance for the drug they’re taking.

 

Side effects caused by chemotherapy are temporary and will disappear after treatment is completed. If you’re currently taking chemotherapy — or plan to in the future — there are several ways to manage or prevent side effects.

 

 

 

 

Researchers are currently testing combinations of chemotherapy drugs and new, experimental treatments in clinical trials. Combining chemotherapy with new treatments, like immunotherapy, increases patients’ treatment options and may lead to a cure in the future.

In a recent medical study, researchers successfully combined cisplatin and MK-1775, an immunotherapy treatment. The combination significantly increased the cancer-killing effectiveness of cisplatin. Researchers are also testing the combination of pemetrexed (Alimta), cisplatin, and CRS 207, a vaccine that attacks a protein abundant in mesothelioma.

Speak to a member of our Patient Help Team to learn more about how you can participate in clinical trials. A member of our team can also review your diagnosis, connect you to experienced doctors, and help find financial aid that can pay for treatment. Get started on improving your diagnosis today.