The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a report composed by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital which advocated palliative care treatment as a method of survival extension. The study, lead by Dr. Jennifer Temel, stated that “integrating palliative care early in the treatment of patients with advanced lung cancer not only improved their mood and quality of life, it also extended their lives.”
Dr. Temel believes that similar studies in other care facilities could help doctors to better understand the potential roles for palliative care regimens in many types of cancer, including mesothelioma.
Pleural mesothelioma, a rapidly progressing and aggressive cancer of the lining of the lung is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. While the disease is relatively rare in comparison to other common health issues, it affects the families of some three thousand Americans each year. Mesothelioma is a terminal cancer with a prognosis which rarely exceeds eighteen months of survival. As such, the vast majority of mesothelioma patients receive primarily palliative care.
Palliative care refers to treatment methods aimed at increasing patient comfort without attacking the cancer itself. Often, mesothelioma patients are too weak to survive radical treatments intended to injure or eradicate malignant tumors. Additionally, the aggressive, recurring nature of the cancer has proven incredibly resistant to curative treatment approaches. In most cases a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are used to control pain, stop bleeding, reduce swelling, and destroy malignant tissues responsible for discomfort. Palliative care works to improve a patient’s quality of life, and to ensure comfortable end of life care.
Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Thoracic Cancer specializes in palliative care treatments. The center delivers “individualized, compassionate care and the most advanced treatments for patients with thoracic cancers,” which include thymoma, lung cancer, esophageal cancer and mesothelioma among others. Massachusetts General Hospital staff are renowned for their exceptional care of both mesothelioma and lung care patients. Dr. Temel’s recent contribution to The New England Journal of Medicine contends that palliative care may provide more complicated benefits than previously believed.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 7th, 2010 at 4:26 AM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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