Heat along with Chemotherapy could help to treat mesothelioma
Researchers have recently published a case report of 61 years old Japanese, who is a “disease-free survivor of malignant pleural mesothelioma” for seven years utilizing only heat therapy and chemotherapy.
This case report has been published online in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.
This Japanese man, with five years of asbestos exposure, went to hospital for chest pain. His scan showed thickening on the right lining around the lungs and some small nodules. Moreover, a tumor growing on the muscles of the chest wall was also found. This tumor was later found to be the sarcomatoid type of malignant pleural mesothelioma, which is the most aggressive mesothelioma cell type.
When the clinicians chose some therapeutic strategies for the patient, he refused to take the invasive therapy such as surgery. So, the doctors chose to treat him with heat therapy and chemotherapy with the drugs cisplatin and irinotecan. Heat therapy, also known as hyperthermia, helps in cancer treatment by exposing the body tissues to the temperatures of up to 113°F.
The man underwent three sessions of heat therapy and a single course of chemotherapy with no major complications. Moreover, “no definitive abnormality in the thoracic space” was reported even after one month of therapy and the patient was able to live mesothelioma-free for seven years.
Researchers have rerpoted, “The combination of hyperthermia and chemotherapy may be a novel and safe therapeutic option for malignant pleural mesothelioma and can be considered for patients ineligible for radical treatment.” However, further research is needed.
Okonogi, N., Ebara, T., Ishikawa, H., Yoshida, D., Ueno, M., Maeno, T., Suga, T., & Nakano, T. (2012). A seven-year disease-free survivor of malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with hyperthermia and chemotherapy: a case report Journal of Medical Case Reports, 6 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1752-1947-6-427