Mesothelioma Treatment

Mesothelioma Treatment

The most common treatment for mesothelioma involves a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Supportive treatments can help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life for many mesothelioma patients.

Treatment helps people live longer with malignant mesothelioma. While a curative treatment outcome is rare, a treatment approach called multimodal therapy can help certain patients live for years with cancer.

Multimodal therapy combines treatments to kill cancer cells in multiple ways. Specialists consider it the best treatment for mesothelioma.

Patients diagnosed in an early stage often qualify for a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Multimodal therapy for late-stage patients may involve chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

The most common treatment options for mesothelioma include:

• Surgery
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy

New and experimental therapies are available through clinical trials. Some of these therapies include targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and photodynamic therapy.

Different types of mesothelioma require specialized treatment. Varying surgeries and chemotherapy drugs are used in malignant pleural mesothelioma treatment compared to peritoneal mesothelioma treatment.

Mesothelioma life expectancy without treatment is around four to six months for the average patient diagnosed in stage 3 or stage 4. Electing treatment at these stages often helps patients live at least a year.

Those diagnosed in stage 1 or stage 2 who undergo aggressive treatment may live for years with mesothelioma.