Asbestos Cancer Treatment

How Is Asbestos Cancer Treated?

Asbestos cancers, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, are treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy. 

For late-stage cancers that have spread throughout the body, palliative treatments are used to treat symptoms and make patients comfortable.

Factors Impacting Treatment

Oncologists take several factors into consideration when making a treatment plan for asbestos-related cancers. These include:

If you’re diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer such as lung, ovarian or laryngeal cancer, oncologists will treat it similarly to mesothelioma. Treatments can include a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and several cancer drugs. 

Types of Asbestos Cancer Treatments

Asbestos cancer treatments are often combined with one another, also known as a multimodal treatment plan. This method attacks cancer from many angles to give the best chance at symptom improvement, shrinking tumors and helping patients live longer. 

Multimodal treatments typically consist of chemotherapy and/or radiation given before, during or after surgery. Targeted therapies and immunotherapy may also be combined with chemotherapy. 

Surgery

Smaller tumors that haven’t spread to nearby tissues or other organs in the body can be removed using surgery. It’s rarely used alone in treating cancer and is instead part of a multimodal plan. For example, tumors that are too large can be shrunk using radiation or chemotherapy, making surgery possible. 

These therapies can also be used after surgery to kill off any remaining cancer cells left behind. This helps prevent the cancer from returning. One study found that treating ovarian cancer with surgery and chemotherapy improved survival over chemotherapy alone. 

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs that target and kill rapidly dividing cells in the body, including cancer cells. Adjuvant chemotherapy is used before surgeries to shrink tumors. It can also be used as palliative care to help relieve cancer symptoms and make patients more comfortable. 

Studies show chemotherapy is effective for treating asbestos cancers. One report found that cucurbitacin E blocked tumor growth in a mouse model of laryngeal cancer. 

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses intense beams of ionizing radiation to damage the DNA in cancer cells and kill them. Unlike other cancer treatments, radiation therapy is targeted, affecting only the parts of the body where the tumors are found. 

Radiation therapy is used as part of multimodal treatment for asbestos cancers, including small cell lung cancer (SCLC). SCLC is treated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy to treat tumors in the lungs and nearby lymph nodes. It can also be used to prevent spread (metastasis) to the brain. 

Targeted Therapies

Targeted therapies do as the name implies, and they “target” cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. These drugs are designed to act on specific proteins or enzymes that cause uncontrolled cell growth, killing cancer cells and shrinking tumors. 

There are two main types of targeted therapies used to treat asbestos cancers: Small molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies (engineered proteins). For example, monoclonal antibodies can be designed to block certain proteins in ovarian cancer, stopping cancer cell growth. 

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a treatment that activates the body’s immune system against cancer. Some cancers can hide from the immune system because of certain proteins on their surface. Immunotherapy drugs bind to these proteins, allowing immune cells to recognize and destroy the cancer cells. 

Studies show that a combination of immunotherapy and radiation therapy may be more effective for treating laryngeal cancer compared to immunotherapy alone. 

Complementary Medicine

In addition to medical treatments, complementary medicine can help address symptoms from cancer or therapies. These approaches include massage therapy, eating a healthy diet or practicing yoga or mindfulness. One study found that practicing yoga improved cognitive symptoms in breast and ovarian cancer survivors.

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Side Effects of Cancer Treatment

You’ll likely experience side effects while taking cancer treatments. These vary between therapies and can include:

Speak with your doctor about effective and safe ways to manage your side effects. If you experience a high fever, bleeding, shortness of breath or an allergic reaction such as swelling in the throat and difficulty swallowing, seek immediate medical attention.

Asbestos Lung Cancer Treatment

The main goals of treating asbestos-related lung cancer are to shrink tumors and improve symptoms. Most lung cancer cases can’t be cured with the available treatments, so there is a large focus on improving the patient’s quality of life. 

Surgery is used to remove lung tumors and the surrounding tissue to completely eliminate cancer. In 2021, 20.7% of lung cancer patients had surgery to treat their disease. There are three main types of surgery:

Photodynamic therapy has also been studied for treating lung cancer. A 2021 study reported positive results when it’s combined with chemotherapy. 

Small Cell Treatment

SCLC is an aggressive form of lung cancer that spreads quickly. With this, oncologists choose treatments that help contain the cancer. 

Since SCLC spreads quickly, surgery is often not a treatment option. Some rare cases have had positive results in patients whose cancer was caught early. 

A combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (chemoradiation) is ideal for early-stage SCLC patients in good health. Platinum-based chemotherapy drugs, such as carboplatin or cisplatin, are used to treat late-stage SCLC. 

Non-Small Cell Treatment

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a less aggressive and much more common form of lung cancer. A lobectomy is commonly used to remove NSCLC. In patients with poor lung function, surgeons may only remove a small wedge from the lung lobe. 

In some cases, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used to shrink NSCLC tumors before surgery. It can also be given after surgery as adjuvant chemotherapy to kill nearby cancer cells in the lymph nodes and lung tissue. In late-stage NSCLC, chemoradiation therapy is used to help shrink tumors and improve the patient’s symptoms.

Asbestos-Related Ovarian Cancer Treatment

When diagnosed early, asbestos-related ovarian cancer can be treated effectively. However, once it has spread, it can be difficult to manage. Ovarian cancer is usually treated with surgery, then chemotherapy. 

Surgeries to treat ovarian cancer include:

Ovarian cancer is also treated with a variety of targeted therapies that block growth factors and enzymes. These include:

External beam radiation therapy is also used to treat ovarian cancer. This uses focused beams of radiation over the skin of the abdomen. 

Asbestos-Related Laryngeal Cancer Treatment

Asbestos-related laryngeal cancer is treated with a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Treatment plans are developed based on where the cancer is located within the larynx. 

Surgery for laryngeal cancer can involve removing parts of the larynx (partial laryngectomy) or the entire larynx (total laryngectomy). If there is cancer in the vocal cords, a cordectomy may be performed. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy is sometimes given after surgery to kill remaining cancer cells. 

A specific type of radiation therapy, known as hyperfractionated radiation therapy, is used to treat laryngeal cancer. This method uses two smaller daily doses of radiation compared to one larger daily dose. 

Targeted therapies that block the epidermal growth factor to stop cancer cell growth are also used for laryngeal cancer. One example is the monoclonal antibody Erbitux (cetuximab), which can be combined with radiation therapy or chemotherapy for patients with late-stage disease.

Getting Treatment for Asbestos-Related Cancers

If you’ve been diagnosed with an asbestos-related cancer, it’s important to find a top cancer center for your treatment. Choosing a cancer center with experience in your specific cancer type may improve your treatment outcomes. For example, the American Cancer Society has found that having surgery for laryngeal cancer at a center that regularly performs those surgeries improves survival. 

Start your search for a comprehensive cancer center that meets your treatment needs. 

Doctors Specializing in Asbestos Cancers

After receiving an asbestos cancer diagnosis, you may be wondering where to start with treatment. Multiple doctors who specialize in different areas as part of a multimodal treatment plan will likely treat you. These include:

Accessing Emerging Treatments in Clinical Trials 

Clinical trials are studies that investigate new treatments to ensure they’re safe and effective. These include new drugs, surgeries or methods for diagnosing diseases. Cancer patients can take advantage of clinical trials to try new treatments if their current therapies aren’t working. 

Clinical trials are always recruiting patients. If you’re interested in joining a clinical trial, talk to your oncologist to find out what studies you qualify for. Below are a few clinical trials available on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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