Surgical Options

• Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) is a surgical technique often selected by mesothelioma patients, and involves removing the entire affected lung, the phrenic nerve and part of the lining of the chest, diaphragm and pericardium. This surgery is usually augmented with chemotherapy, but is not typically successful; as many as 15 percent of patients die after the surgery.
  A pleurectomy is a similar procedure and involves the removal of only the lining of the lung. The survival rate for this is much higher---up to 50 percent over a 22 month period.
  
  

Clinical Trials

• Becoming involved with a clinical trial involves risk, but also provides access to cutting-edge mesothelioma treatments. Anti-angiogenesis drugs work by cutting off the supply of blood to the affected area and prevent angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels are formed by branching out from existing blood vessels. These types of drugs are used in conjunction with chemotherapy to treat cancers. Consult with your doctor for information on new clinical trials of these drug treatments for mesothelioma.
  
  

Other Options

• Gene therapy is an experimental treatment involving injecting a "suicide gene" into cancerous growths. These genes cause cell death in the area it is injected, and is used to kill cells in a targeted area. Immune augmentative therapy (IAT) employs injections of artificial immunoproteins to fight the effects of mesothelioma. Photodynamic therapy uses chemicals called photosensitizers that are injected into the body and are designed to make the area affected by the chemicals appear more vivid under certain types of light. The photosensitizing agents of these chemicals stick to cancer cells and highlight them as targets for destruction via laser. This method can only be used for tumors near the surface of the skin.