Pleural mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that has yet to be cured. There are cases of mesothelioma that go into remission and patients who experience long-term survival, but the average person who contracts the disease receives a prognosis ranging between four and 18 months. The search for a cure is an on-going process and extensive research is increasingly being conducted by many doctors throughout the world.
Treatment for mesothelioma can range from palliative care to curative attempts to beat the cancer. Some of the more common methods of treatment may include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. One approach, called multimodality treatment, combines all three to create an aggressive approach towards fighting the cancer. Patients receiving such treatment are usually diagnosed during the first stage of development and have a higher chance of positively responding to treatment.
Clinical trials testing new medications and treatment methods may also be an option for some pleural mesothelioma patients. All treatment medications go through a clinical trial before being deemed safe for general use and patients sometimes enter a clinical trial with the hope for a cure. Clinicaltrials.gov offers a comprehensive list of mesothelioma trials that are recruiting patients and trials that are already in progress.
Some patients may experience remission of the cancer after receiving treatment, but this does not mean the cancer has been cured. In most cases, pleural mesothelioma tumors that go into remission often come back at a later date. Some researchers believe remission after treatment may be caused by changes in the immune system.
On the diagnostic side, scientists have found mesothelioma tumor markers in the blood as clues that reveal whether or not mesothelial tumors are forming in the body. Tests such as the Mesomark assay and other mesothelin screening devices are becoming available which make it possible to gauge a patient’s likelihood of developing pleural mesothelioma. This offers a chance for obtaining early detection as well as effective surgical treatment.
Therapeutically, the chemotherapeutic drug Onconase was found in 2006 to make a significant contribution to survival periods when applied as part of a standard anticancer regimen. Onconase’s maker was successful in applying for orphan-drug status, which is a special marketing status to encourage the development of drugs that will help a relatively small number of people. In 2007, studies indicated Onconase may also have a preventive effect against mesothelioma. Further research and studies are yet to be completed, but this and other drugs give some hope of therapeutic progress and perhaps someday leading to a mesothelioma cure.
Although only 2,000 to 3,000 people develop malignant mesothelioma each year in the United States, there has been an upsurge in research and therapeutic experimentation for the cancer. Pleural mesothelioma has the potential to be cured to some degree (remission) if it is detected early, but most patients are diagnosed during the advanced stages of development. As a result, research has equally been focused on finding ways to detect mesothelioma as well as how to treat it.
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