In general terms, mesothelioma is a tough disease; unlike other forms of cancer, it doesn't respond well to treatments. But every patient's case is different; some things may work for some patients, others may not. Whatever the case, your oncologist's recommendations should give you the right options in the hope that they will prolong and improve your life expectancy.

 

Ways to Improve Life Expectancy

These are some of the ways that a mesothelioma patient can be helped in improving life expectancy.
1. Early diagnosis
2. Treatment
3. Clinical trials

Early Diagnosis

When mesothelioma reaches Stage 3 or 4, treatment options become limited. That is why the most ideal way to improve and prolong life expectancy of a patient is to diagnose the disease in its early stages. As of yet, researchers have not yet found a way to do this, but they are constantly doing their best.

Mesomark ®, an FDA-approved blood test, uses an immunosorbent assay (which is enzyme-linked) to measure how much SMRP (Soluble Mesothelin-Related Peptides) are in human serum. An elevated level of SMRP may indicate mesothelioma long before symptoms manifest. If you were exposed to asbestos at any time in the past, it will be helpful if you can take advantage of this test before the disease has progressed farther.

Treatment

Undergoing treatment is definitely the best method to prolong life expectancy. Generally, the suggested treatments are surgery, chemotherapy or radiation although each case varies from the other.

• Surgery – Because the disease is generally diagnosed at its late stage, surgery is not curative for mesothelioma but it is used to remove as much cancer cells as possible. If it is a pleural mesothelioma, the procedure is called pneumonectomy to remove the diseased lung, or extrapleural pneumonectomy to remove the lung and other affected tissues around it. Both surgeries are very serious and should only be performed on patients with reasonably good health. Pleurodesis, thoracentesis, paracentesis and other surgeries are done as palliative measures to lessen the symptoms and to provide better comfort to the patient.
• Chemotherapy – For mesothelioma, the most common treatment is chemotherapy. Out of the more than a hundred drugs in the market, only few are for mesothelioma treatment. Alimta ® is the only FDA-approved drug for malignant pleural mesothelioma.
• Radiation therapy – Radiation, like the ones mentioned above, is used to relieve patients of the symptoms of the disease. It does not promise to prolong the life expectancy of the mesothelioma victim.

Clinical Trials

Every year, clinical trials are conducted to test new treatments and drugs for mesothelioma. Patients may get involved in these trials, provided they have met the required parameters of the study. There is no promise of an increase of life expectancy but most patients have discovered that getting involved in clinical studies buy them extra time. The drugs used in the trial are new and not without risk, but many patients agree that there are more advantages than risks.