Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs for treating cancer. By interfering with the cancer cells’ ability to divide and reproduce, the drugs are able to destroy them. There are more than 50 different drugs used in the treatment of cancer, a handful of which have been helpful in treating mesothelioma patients. Often, doctors recommended a combination of these drugs to increase their effectiveness at destroying cancerous cells.
For the treatment of mesothelioma and other cancers, systematic chemotherapy is used. This means that the drugs enter the patient’s bloodstream and then circulate throughout his or her entire body. While this ensures that the drugs are able to reach cancer cells allover the body, it also means these highly potent drugs can affect a person’s normal cells and tissues as well. This concern is always present during chemotherapy treatment, so doctors must be sure to carefully select the combination and dosages of the drugs that will be used to treat each patient based on their individual circumstances.
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Side Effects
The high toxicity of the drugs used in chemotherapy can cause a number of side effects, the type and severity of which varies from patient to patient and from drug to drug. However, the most commonly experienced side effects of chemotherapy drugs include: nausea, hair loss, loss of appetite, oral sores, and physical fatigue. In addition, fertility may be temporarily affected, and the number of cells developed by the body’s bone marrow may be reduced, making it harder to recover from illness or injury. Fortunately, most side effects gradually disappear after the completion of chemotherapy.
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Alimta
Alimta (pemetrexed) was the first chemotherapy drug approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of mesothelioma. In 2002, the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly Company, conducted the largest clinical trial in the United States for mesothelioma treatment. When combined with the drug cisplatin, Altima shrank mesothelioma tumors in 41 % of patients. Additionally, patients who received a combination of both drugs showed an increase in survival time by about 30% over cisplatin alone. Results of the study were so promising that the FDA approved the drug under an “expanded access” program while further studies were conducted. After more testing, Alimta received full FDA approval in 2004.
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