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Mesothelioma and Chemotherapy

Catherine A. Murphy

Chemotherapy treats mesothelioma with drugs that has an ability to get rid of cancerous cells. Health care providers use chemotherapy to reduce a tumor size before surgery. This in turn will ensure that immunotherapy and radiation therapy is going to be lot more effective in destroying cancerous cells. If you cannot go for a surgery because of your health, chemotherapy can be used as a stand-alone treatment.

Mesothelioma Research

Lots of research is being conducted in the chemotherapy field for people suffering from mesothelioma. According to Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, tremendous progress has been made in the systemic treatment of mesothelioma within the past three years. Researchers are studying the effect of standby drugs like cisplatin, endostatin, gemcitabine and alimta on mesothelioma patients.

Chemotherapy Drugs for Mesothelioma

Your health care provider can give chemotherapy drugs as single agents, but quite a number of times, more than two drugs are given simultaneously. This is commonly known as combination therapy. Investigational drug like Alimta is combined with standard drugs such as gemcitabine and cisplatin. Talking about Alimta, it is widely been regarded as an expanded option for people suffering from mesothelioma.

When mesothelioma makes its presence felt, there is a strong possibility that abnormal cells multiply out of control. It is the responsibility of anticancer drugs to destroy cancer cells and stop the process of multiplying. Unfortunately, there is always a chance of healthy cells also getting destroyed. You are going to face plenty of side effects in this scenario.

The cells that are going to be destroyed are the quick growing normal cells including blood cells and digestive tract cells. Blood cells make its mark in bone marrow. On the other hand, digestive tract cells include esophagus, stomach, mouth and intestines.
There can also be an impact on the hair follicles. Hair loss during chemotherapy is always a possibility. There are number of chemotherapy drugs that have an impact on the vital organs cells including heart, nervous system, kidney and lungs.

Chemotherapy Protocol for Mesothelioma

Before you start a chemotherapy protocol, it is advisable that you interact with your health care provider and come up with a treatment option where not much side effects are associated. Some of the questions that you need to ask your health care provider before starting a chemotherapy protocol are mentioned below.

How many treatments you need to go through?

What drugs you are going to get at the time of treatment?

What is the duration of each treatment?

Normal cells are definitely going to recover once chemotherapy is finished. After the completion of treatment, majority of side effects will disappear.

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