Chemotherapy, also known as systemic
therapy, uses oral or infusion-based medications to kill cancer cells
throughout your body. Chemotherapy is used both before and after surgery, as
well as in people who do not undergo surgery. Though not curative, it has a
proven survival benefit. It is also used in the palliative setting to reduce
pain and improve quality of life.
The most commonly used chemotherapy
drugs for mesothelioma are cisplatin combined with pemetrexed (Alimta) or raltitrexed (Tomudex). Other combinations
include gemcitabine, carboplatin or oxaliplatin.
If you can’t manage combination
therapy, your doctor may start on just one drug. Sometimes, your doctor may
infuse the medication directly into your chest cavity, a procedure called
pleural chemotherapy, or, abdomen, called intraperitoneal chemotherapy. You may
also get a second course of chemotherapy, called “second-line” chemotherapy,
with pemetrexed or other drugs, raltitrexed plus oxaliplatin, or the triple
drug combination of irinotecan, cisplatin and mitomycin.
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