A new and promising treatment for mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable cancer caused by asbestos, is in the early stages of development. Photodynamic therapy, or PDT, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for a variety of cancers, and is currently being tested for use as a mesothelioma treatment.
Mesothelioma is indicated by malignant tumors of the mesothelium, that is, the soft tissue that encases and protects many of our vital organs. The devastating cancer has been linked with exposure to asbestos fibers, and while the disease can take up to half a century to fully develop, all persons that have been exposed to the dangerous substance are at risk.
When asbestos fibers are either inhaled or ingested, the microscopic, needle like particles are not detained by our body’s normal defenses for inorganic foreign irritants. The fibers pass through the lungs or digestive tract and eventually become lodged in the mesothelium where the tissue begins to react by scarring. This scarring can eventually form dangerous, malignant tumors which can be difficult to detect with conventional methods, contributing to the disease’s difficult diagnosis.
Photodynamic therapy is an exciting development and a promising potential treatment option. The therapy uses a non-toxic, photosensitizing compound to target cancer cells and cause them to become vulnerable to visible light. Affected tissues are then exposed to light – usually during surgery – which destroys the targeted cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy and radiotherapy, PDT targets cancer cells specifically rather than just areas of the body affected by the tumor. This means that far less damage is done to normal, healthy cells which greatly detracts from the debilitating weakness and general lethargy that normally follows conventional treatments.
More than 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. The disease is infamous for its grim prognoses; patients with a positive mesothelioma diagnosis are often expected to live for no more than about two years. Asbestos, the substance that causes the disease, while banned in most developed nations including the European Union is still used in the United States. Strict regulations, however, are applied to encourage its safe handling in the USA. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of asbestos products are still used freely in developing nations as industrial insulation, fire retardation additives, and strengthening additives in cement and other building materials.
Researchers and medical professionals are constantly working to improve existing mesothelioma treatments and discover new, potentially more effective treatments such as photodynamic therapy.
