Cytology and biopsy of Pleural mesothelioma | Treatment

Pap smears and biopsies

Cytology and biopsy of Pleural mesothelioma
Pap smears and biopsies help diagnose Mesothelioma more accurately.
While technological advancement in the process of scanning has contributed to a more accurate diagnosis, process a little more invasive are due to make an official diagnosis of mesothelioma. One of these processes is the thoracentesis, in which a needle is inserted into the lungs to collect pleural fluid. On a cytological analysis to inspect samples of cells, doctors looking for biomarkers that indicate the presence of cancer, examples of these markers are epithelial membrane antigen, calretinina and a WT1. Specialized doctors can make a cytological analysis to diagnose the cancer mesothelioma which is successful in 80% of cases.

Sometimes, the results are inconclusive or there is simply no presence of pleural fluid. In these cases doctors prefer to pleura tissue biopsies. Color dyes are added to the sample to thus be able to help doctors visualize cellular structures. A type of biopsy often used is thyroid fine needle aspiration but many other doctors have applied thoracoscopy and have received far more favorable results. A Thoracoscopic biopsy produces a result that in 98 percent of patients. The current rule of thumb in to diagnose pleural mesothelioma, that must be to examine cell observed in an electron microscope. If the series of examinations and biopsies can confirm the presence of mesothelioma, the doctors can start to work in a results-based plan.

 Treatment of pleural mesothelioma

Historically, doctors have treated cancer pleural mesothelioma with surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. Depending on how such advanced this disease in the patient, these treatments can be curative or palliative. While not many patients are diagnosed early enough to be treated with curative surgery, there are many palliative treatments that they can relieve much of the symptoms, improve quality of life and significantly increase life expectancy. There are investigations that are evaluating a variety of alternative treatments such as immunotherapy or therapy of genes, which can become a common therapy for patients with mesothelioma once are perfected.

Surgery

Surgery for Pleural mesothelioma
Surgery continues to be a primary treatment for patients with pleural mesothelioma. One of the most common procedures is a the pleurectomy / decortication, in which the goal of the operation is to remove tumor affecting the pleura. A more aggressive treatment is the extra-pleural pneumonectomia, this tries to safely remove the entire lung, diaphragm and the pericardium. Only a small fraction of patients has a proper function of your lungs to qualify for as aggressive as this treatment.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy for Pleural mesothelioma
One of the most common palliative therapies is chemotherapy in which the use of one or more drugs try to eliminate infected cells and cancer reducing the size of tumors. While a recent study has shown that patients respond better to chemotherapy, the results have been unfavourable. Only between 15 and 20 percent of patients with mesothelioma, they notice a significant reduction of the tumor once therapy is applied.

However, many clinical studies combine chemotherapy with a treatment that has shown enough potential. A multi-centre phase 3 study, found that a combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin prolongs survival, in a 2.8 average months compared only the therapy in which only a cisplatin. 41 percent of patients who have been treated with a regimen of pemetrexed and cisplatin have experienced a reduction of at least 50 percent tumor. While the combination of drugs used for chemotherapy to the pleura mesothelioma cure has not been found, this is the main objective of an endless number of researchers involved in clinical trials.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy for Pleural mesothelioma
Pleural mesothelioma usually resists radiation therapy. In this treatment, doctors administered radiation to a village to destroy cancer cells and shrink the tumor. While it is very poor to cure the patient this can be effective to treat symptoms such as pain in the chest. One of the most successful techniques of radiotherapy is intensity-modulated. Usually applies to patients at intervals of low doses after a radical surgery as the pneumonectomia extra-pleural, this technique prevents the recurrence of cancer in many cases. While it is effective in preventing cancer to return to areas in which radiation was applied, is even spreading of tumor it is something that has not been resolved.

Multimodal therapy

Multimodal for Pleural mesothelioma therapies
Currently, there is not a universally accepted treatment to treat pleural mesothelioma, most of the experts can agree that life expectancy can be improved if a combined treatment is applied. This is known as multimodal therapy and researchers are constantly experimenting with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to discover the most efficient combination. In one of the examples of multimodal therapy applied to patients with pleural mesothelioma, the doctors applied first the pneumonectomia extra-pleural. Radiation therapy is administered to reduce the risk that cancer will appear in the place where the radiation was applied and so this not to escape into areas close to the affected organ, chemotherapy is applied.