Mesothelioma Radiation

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Mesothelioma Radiation

In addition to chemotherapy and surgery, radiation therapy is one of the three most commonly used treatments for mesothelioma.

Radiation therapy uses powerful ionizing radiation to kill cancerous cells. Sometimes radiation therapy can act as a stand-alone therapy for patients suffering from asbestos related cancers. Thus, patients do not have to undergo surgery or chemotherapy. Although, not all cases can be cured using radiation therapy alone, it depends on the stage and severity of the cancer.

Mesothelioma radiation is either a curative or a palliative treatment. In case of palliative treatment, it does not cure the patients, but simply provides relief to the pain and related symptoms for those suffering from cancer.

Mesothelioma radiation is of three types that include – eternal beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy and unsealed source radiation therapy. Several factors decide the type of radiation subjected to a patient. The type of radiation depends on the type of mesothelioma, stage of mesothelioma and other treatment procedures adapted.

External Beam Radiotherapy

The most common type of radiation therapy is the external beam radiotherapy. The usual procedure carried while undertaking this therapy involves the patients to lie down under the radiations to expose affected areas. After a series of such therapies, the tumor exposed to radiation shows decreased growth as the cancer cells die. Such radiation treatments cannot eradicate the tumor cells completely in a single process.

Such treatments help patients to get relief from pain. Some other typical symptoms such as coughing and shortness in breathing can also accompany in mesothelioma. As radiations never differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells, these ought to kill healthy cells surrounding cancerous cells.

Such damages to healthy cells may cause digestive problems and difficulty while swallowing. External beam radiotherapy is thus rarely effective if no other treatment supports it. In fact, it is effective if used in conjunction with chemotherapy and surgery.

Mesothelioma Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy is a sealed source radiation therapy. It utilizes a procedure,which involves implantation of radioactive rods of small sizes near the tumors.The types of tumors that this therapy can treat include mesothelioma and other types affecting areas such as cervical, breast and prostate. Such treatment procedures allow delivery of high concentration dose of radiation in areas of tumor.

These treatments prove useful in healing tumors that are otherwise resistant to radiation therapies. This radiation therapy is useful, as it causes very little damage to non-cancerous cells that are healthy. Hence, it is more effective in selective killing the cancerous cells with minimum damage to healthy cells surrounding them. Patients suffering from mesothelioma may receive either permanent or temporary brachytherapy treatment.

For treatment intended for temporary relief, radioactive seeds within tumors are laid for short time and then are subsequently removed. On contrary, in permanent treatment, seeds stay within the tumors until the time their radioactive emission ceases.

Unsealed Source Radiation Therapy

Patients undergoing unsealed source radiation get soluble radioactive substances. Such treatments are either orally administered or given through injections and they treat only specific type of cancer. Patients suffering from thyroid cancer undergo treatments involving solutions derived from radioactive iodine.

One of the major disadvantages of this therapy is that patients receiving the treatment may become radioactive for the duration of the
treatment. Patients who carry radioactivity are isolated from others, as they can pose health risks to others. You need to note that this particular treatment does not apply to patients suffering from mesothelioma.

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