Mesothelioma is a malignant cancer usually associated with asbestos exposure. The development of mesothelioma may take longer than 10 to 15 years after the persistent exposure of asbestos.It usually affects pleura,lungs and it is extremely aggressive.The treatment is not satisfactory for mesothelioma.Only 3-4 out of 10 patients survive for more than an year after treatment.The treatment usually involves lung sparing surgery.
Recently a group of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania reported in Annals of Thoracic Surgery that Photodynamic therapy besides lung sparing surgery in cases of malignant mesothelioma increases the survival up to 2years.
The researchers proposed that mesothelioma is bound to recur in treated patients, but if they can have functional lungs they can sustain treatment in case of recurrence. So photodynamic therapy helps in having functional lungs in spite of treatment and thus increasing the survival rates in mesothelioma patients.
Source: http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/gca?allch=&SEARCHID=1&AUTHOR1=Joseph%2BFriedberg&FIRSTINDEX=0&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&gca=annts%3B93%2F5%2F1658&allchb=
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