Asbestos Cancer Treatment
Asbestos cancer is caused by constant exposure to asbestos particles in the air for a long time. People working at the asbestos mines and work places where asbestos is handled as a building material are the main victims of this disease. When the asbestos in the form of a mineral just mined or in the form of manufactured articles are broken up, millions of tiny and very light particles escape into the air. They enter into the human body through air, water and food. These particles which cannot be destroyed get deposited in some parts of the body and causes asbestos cancer in the long run. The unfortunate part is that it takes 20 to 30 years for an asbestos cancer patient to show visible symptoms of the disease. Moreover, the average life span of a patient after detection of the disease is two to three years only.
There is no known cure for complete recovery from asbestos cancer. The treatment given once diagnosed for the disease is aimed at prolonging the life span and removing the pain of the patient. The three main treatments resorted to for this purpose include:
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
In surgery, the aim is to slow down the progress of the disease. If the asbestos cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, some tumors can be removed and a great part of the asbestos deposits in the affected part can be taken out with surgery. In the later stages, this is not possible. At such times, surgery is used to make breathing easy and the patient may be made to feel more comfortable.
Chemotherapy uses very strong medicines. It intends to destroy as many cancerous cells as possible. That retards the growth and multiplication of the cells by division. The drugs so far used for this purpose were very toxic and they also destroyed some of the healthy cells. Of late, some new drugs have been formulated to reduce the side effects and they are less toxic.
The third method of treatment for asbestos cancer is radiation. High doses of radiation are used for killing the cancer cells in a localized area. This also aids surgery by reducing the tumors prior to surgery. Radiation reduces the discomfort of the patient. Some healthy cells are also killed by radiation. But this damage is at a greatly reduced rate when compared to chemotherapy. The target of radiation can be more accurate.
Apart from these mainstream methods, alternate treatments are also tried. At least in some cases the suffering of the patient is found to be reduced greatly by alternative therapy. In any case, early detection of asbestos cancer is very important. It allows more time for treatment and provides a chance to increase the life span of the patient to a maximum period. Early detection also permits a reduction of pain and discomfort to the patient. It is better to introduce good safety procedures at the asbestos mines and other places where workers are exposed to asbestos clouds constantly. It will go a long way to alleviate the misery of some of the hardest working men.