Treatment Options for Mesothelioma
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Mesothelioma Lawyer. Mesothelioma is a deadly lung disease with a variety of treatment options. Before selecting a treatment choice, it is important for people to understand the various implications of these treatments, especially when reviewing the statistics of mesothelioma.
Surgical Treatment Options
When mesothelioma is diagnosed, one of the first tasks for the physician is to stage the disease. Mesothelioma often starts in one location, such as one of the lungs, before spreading to other areas of the body. If the disease is caught in an early stage, it may be amenable to surgery. Surgery has the potential to completely remove the entire mesothelioma cancer without requiring a significant amount of adjunct therapy; however, patients who have advanced-stage disease may have mesothelioma in multiple locations. In this scenario, it is difficult to completely remove every diseased section without causing significant side effects. As with every treatment, there are risks to consider. With surgery, patients run the risk of significant bleeding, infection, or allergic reaction to anesthesia or any of the other drugs used during the course of the procedure. Patients should discuss the occupations exposed to mesothelioma as well as the risks and benefits of surgery with their physician on a case by case basis.
Chemotherapy
Many people have heard about chemotherapy as a treatment option for different types of cancer. Chemotherapy is a drug that is used to specifically target cells that grow rapidly, such as most cancers. Chemotherapy has the benefit of saving the patient from requiring surgery; however, chemotherapy does have a wide variety of side effects that range from nausea and vomiting during the treatment course to the patients’ hair falling out, urinating blood, ringing in the ears, and a host of other side effects that are dependent on the specific type of chemotherapy drug used. These may be worse than the mesothelioma symptoms. Sometimes, the physician will combine chemotherapy with surgery, possibly trying to remove the bulk of the cancer through a surgical method while using chemotherapy to clean up whatever cells are left behind.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation is different from chemotherapy because these drugs are made out of molecules that are actively decaying, or changing through atomic structure, while the drug is being administered. This kind of decay releases other atomic particles that are used to kill cells, such as those found in mesothelioma. By targeting the therapy to the mesothelioma cancer itself, it is hoped that any side effects can be minimized. Patients can receive an external beam radiation or rods that are implanted directly into the site of the cancer. Radiation has its own set of side effects, ranging from nausea and vomiting to causing an additional type of cancer. Sometimes, radiation is used to shrink the mesothelioma to make it easier to remove surgically and improve the mesothelioma prognosis.
Contact an Experienced Sacramento Mesothelioma Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Mesothelioma Lawyer. Mesothelioma is a devastating lung disease and anyone suffering from it should contact me at (916) 921-6400 for friendly, free advice. I maintain a toll-free line at (800) 404-5400.
I am a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum in the state of California. We consist of many of the top-rated trial lawyers in the United States. Each member has won million-dollar case verdicts for prior clients.
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