Mesothelioma Treatments

When we talk about some mesothelioma treatments we have to metion Angiogenesis and Anti-angiogenesis Drugs, even though progress has been made in the early detection of cancer, and in enhanced treatment options once cancer is diagnosed, there are still many cancers, including mesothelioma, which can not be cured and remain hard to treat effectively.

In recent years, researchers have learned a great deal about how cancer cells vary from normal cells and, in an effort to find drugs without the potentially severe side effects of chemotherapy, have now discovered drugs which target the tumor itself while sparing the bodys normal cells. One such group are the anti-angiogenesis drugs.

Another type of mesothelioma treatment is Immunotherapy, occasionally called biological therapy, uses the body's own immune system to defend itself against disease. Researchers have found that the immune system may be able to distinguish the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells, and eradicate those that become cancerous. Immunotherapy is considered to repair, stimulate, or enhance the immune system's natural anticancer function.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a type of mesothelioma treatment based on the principle that single-celled organisms, if first treated with certain photosensitive drugs, will die when exposed to light at a particular frequency. PDT destroys cancerous cells by using this fixed frequency light to make active photosensitizing drugs which have accumulated in body tissues.

Gene therapy is an approach to treating potentially fatal or disabling diseases by modifying the expression of an individual's genes in the direction of a therapeutic goal. The principle of gene therapy is based on correcting disease at the DNA level and compensating for the abnormal genes.

Complementary and alternative medicine covers a wide range of healing philosophies that conventional medicine does not normally accept or make accessible to its patients for cancer treatment. Some of these practices include the use of acupuncture, herbs, homeopathy, therapeutic massage, and Far Eastern medicine to treat health conditions.

Unconventional methods of cancer treatment make claims that can not be scientifically substantiated. They usually claim to be effective against cancers that are considered not curable, and tout treatments with relatively few, if any, side effects.