Mesothelioma Treatment (Chemotherapy)

Chemotherapy is a systematic treatment consisting of using drugs that attack and destroy cancer cells. Some of these medications can be administered orally, others intravenously. Depends on the severity of the disease and the state of your health, chemotherapy may contain a single drug (monochemotherapy) or many chemical agents (polychemotherapy). Polychemotherapy tends to cause more adverse effects, but it increases your chance of surviving. Therefore, if you are young, you will mostly be recommended polychemotherapy. Certain medications that are currently used in chemotherapy to fight mesothelioma include:   

·     Cisplatin     

·     Mitomycin -C   

·     Pemetrexed (Alimta)   

·     Cisplatin (Platinol)   

·     Vinorelbine (Navelbine)   

·     Gemcitabine (Gemzar)   

·     Carboplatin (Paraplatin)   

·     Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)   

Unfortunately, those medications are always associated with side effects; some of common mesothelioma drugs adverse effects include: 

·          hair loss 

·          nausea 

·          vomiting 

·          fatigue 

·          rash 

·          diarrhea 

·          easy bruising or bleeding 

·          numbness 

·          tingling 

·          loss of appetite 

·          muscle pain 

·          blurred vision 

·          kidney damage 

·          hearing loss 

·          hypocalcaemia 

·          ringing in the ears 

·          painful urination or red urine 

·          damage to nervous tissue 

·          loss of balance 

·          Reduced production of blood cells in the bone marrow.