Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma are non-specific in that they are often associated with other less serious conditions. Diagnosis is therefore often made too late for curative treatment to be an effective option.
For most patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, treatment is palliative, and is designed reduce the rate at which the cancer spreads, and to provide relief from the symptoms of the disease. Treatment typically involves a combination of surgery and chemotherapy, as either treatment alone is much less effective as when they are used in conjunction with each other.
Surgery is not always a practical option for individuals with peritoneal mesothelioma. Surgical procedures involve the removal of diseased sections of the peritoneum, and are often followed up with intravenous or intraperitoneal chemotherapy (where drugs delivered through a vein or directly to the peritoneal cavity) to remove residual cancer cells that were not able to be removed during surgery.
In cases where surgery and chemotherapy are not suitable treatment options, palliative treatment is used to provide symptomatic relief; however, such treatments cannot slow the progression of the cancer. These types of treatments are used simply to manage pain and provide relief from symptoms such as the build up of fluid in the peritoneal cavity.
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