Mesothelioma Treatment

For your convenience, we have consolidated mesothelioma treatment information for your review. This section is updated on a weekly basis.
Conventional Therapies
Conventional mesothelioma therapies include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. You should keep in mind that if you choose one course of action for mesothelioma treatment, you may preclude other courses. All of your options should be considered as soon as possible.
Leading Doctors
We have become familiar with medical doctors who specialize in aggressively treating malignant mesothelioma. Some of these doctors will review your medical records for free to see if you are a candidate for their mesothelioma treatment protocol.
Cancer Centers
Top Cancer Centers for mesothelioma treatment have been listed alphabetically by state for your convenience. Listings include contact information and Web site links where available.
Clinical Trials
Information about current studies of promising new or experimental mesothelioma treatments.
Experimental Therapies
Several forms of mesothelioma treatment such as the drug Alimta, gene therapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy and multimodality therapy are still in their experimental stages. We invite you to read the following articles on experimental therapies for malignant mesothelioma.

Despite Onconase Trial Results Quintessence Moves Ahead

In an article posted in this column a few weeks ago, it was reported that researchers at Madison-based Quintessence Bioscience were waiting for the results of a Phase IIIb clinical trial from Alfacell Corp., a significant East Coast competitor, on an anti-cancer therapeutic compound, Onconase. QBI-139, Quintessence's lead drug candidate, is very similar to Onconase but has not yet gone through clinical testing.
A Case Report: Malignant Mesothelioma with Unexpected Contralateral Mediastinal Shift
7thSpace InteractiveMay 1, 2008

An unusual clinical feature of mesothelioma is the presentation of contralateral mediastinal shift due to pleural mesothelioma tissue, rather than a pleural effusion.
Heated Intraoperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Developed by Renowned Surgeon


Dr. Paul Sugarbaker, renowned oncologic surgeon specializing in mesothelioma at the Washington Cancer Institute, developed a leading-edge surgical procedure to treat mesothelioma called heated intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy.
Comprehensive Approach for Treating Peritoneal Mesothelioma is Described
Cancer Consultants, IDApril 9, 2008
Researchers have reported that combination resection, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and whole abdominal radiation therapy is effective for treating malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.Researchers have reported that combination resection, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and whole abdominal radiation therapy is effective for treating malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. - 4/9/08
Stage 3 pure epithelial mesothelioma patients undergoing radical decortication/pleurectomy appear to have significantly better results than patients who have less extensive operations - 2/06/08
Some malignant mesothelioma patients may have a prognosis that's not as grim as once widely believed, said a Nordic collaborative group - 9/21/07
Pemetrexed combined with either cisplatin or carboplatin demonstrated activity in previously untreated malignant pleural mesothelioma - 6/6/2007
Chemo Combination Improves Survival in Asbestos Cancer - 2/8/2007

Treatment by Stage
This section lists typical treatment strategies based on the stage (using the Butchart staging system) of a pleural mesothelioma.
Ask Your Doctor
As you deal with your cancer and the process of treatment, you need to have honest, open discussions with your cancer care team. We have listed some questions that you might want to ask in this section.
Articles & Abstracts
Selected abstracts relating to malignant mesothelioma from PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's search service.