At the current time, there is no cure for mesothelioma. There is no treatment that will completely eradicate the cancer. In certain patients with early disease, surgical treatment with an extrapleural pneumonectomy can be considered potentially curative, if all of the tumor is removed. When radiation therapy and chemotherapy are added to the surgery, the possibility of a cure increases. As yet, however, this has not been achieved.There have been reports of patients living many years during which their mesothelioma seemed to have disappeared. One such case was reported in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery in 2007 (see mesothelioma survivors).
Dr. Kaplan
