New Mesothelioma Treatment Options

Recently, there have been a number of new mesothelioma treatments being developed. This has given victims of mesothelioma new hopes for more and better mesothelioma treatment options for this disease.
Current research has mostly been revolving around the development of new treatments or improving the efficacy of current traditional treatments. This is a very important and encouraging development for mesothelioma patients as some of the new treatments such as new chemotherapy agents and combinations of agents have been showing improved results in test being carried out
PDT or Photo Dynamic therapy is one of the latest mesothelioma treatment options being researched. PDT is based on the theory that single celled organisms die when exposed to certain frequency of light. In PDT treatment then, photosensitive drugs are administered intravenously into the patient. Under normal circumstances, the drug will zoom in and concentrate on the diseased cells and destroy it withi a few days. However, some side effects such as skin sensitivity, nausea and vomiting have been recorded in patients undergoing PDT.
Another new treatment being tested is Immunotherapy or biological therapy as it is sometimes known as. In Immunotherapy or biological therapy, the treatment uses the immune system of the patient's body is used to treat and fight off the disease.
As the patient's body ability to treat itself might be hampered When they are stricken by mesotheliomadue, the Immunotherapy treatment will try to rejuvenate the patients' immune system. Improving the patients natural immune system is thought to be the most effective way to combat this disease. Another aspect of this therapy is that it will also try to repair other faulty areas in the immune systems where possible. Biological Response Modifiers (BRMs), a naturally occuring substance in the body are what is used in immunotherapy. Although BRMs is a naturally occuring substance in the body, laboratory research has shown that it can now be prepared in the laboratory and has been found to be just as effective as the natural BRMs.
Another new form of mesothelioma treatment option that is being developed is the Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy or IMRT. In IMRT, radiation doses administered to the tumor is localized and controlled so that the radiation treatment does not cause unwanted damage to the nearby normal and healthy cells, which is one of the drawbacks of current traditional treatments.
Another important breakthrough that researchers have made is in treating mesothelioma at the DNA level through Gene Therapy. When administering Gene Therapy, doctors will try to correct or replace the abnormal or damaged genes. The two main types of Gene Therapy most commonly used today are Replacement Gene Therapy and Knockout Gene Therapy.
In Replacement Gene Therapy the mutated or missing gene which causes the mesothelioma is replaced whereas in Knockout Gene Therapy, the genes responsible for creating the tumor is completely eliminated.
With more research being done in Gene Therapy today, much more information regarding genes are being unfolded constantly.As such, gene therapy treatments holds the highest promise of the future in the treatment of mesothelioma.
Other forms of treatments which use some combinations of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, sometimes called multimodality therapy, are also currently being researched.
Last but not least, Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy combined with the use of a pemetrexed drug, brand named Alimta, are some of the new developments in the treatment of mesothelioma.
With research going on in some many spheres from Gene Therapy, Biologicals as well as combinational treatments, the outlook for mesothelioma treatment options looks to be bright and expanding.