Asbestos and Cancer

Surgery
Using 3 types of surgery in the treatment of mesothelioma. Diagnostic surgery to obtain a sample for biopsy is performed by thoracoscopy (*), or laparoscopic surgery or pleural mediatinoscopia open. Secondly, palliative surgery include partial pleurectomy pleurodesis, thoracoscopy with pleurodesis and more rarely, pleuroperitoneal shunt. The third is curative surgery involving extrapleural pneumonectomy in order to remove much of the tumor. In most centers, this is surgery followed by adjuvant therapy. Not all patients are suitable for this procedure, which otherwise has a 6% mortality

Chemotherapy
Although there have been several chemotherapy regimens, none has proven to be curative. The two most useful (in the sense of reducing the tumor mass and improve the symptoms) are cisplatin + pemetrexed and gemcitabine cistaplatino +. In both cases, dexamethasone is recommended to add folic acid supplements and vitamin B12

Radiotherapy
Radiation therapy has been used for many years with disappointing results due to the diffuse nature of the tumor and can cause radiation pneumonitis. Just found some effectiveness when applied locally in the scar area after surgery to avoid the spread of tumor cells remains

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