Your Longevity and Comfort Are Our Top Priority
Mesothelioma is ultimately fatal. But advances in medical treatment are enabling victims to live longer, sometimes extending life by years after an early stage diagnosis. While the outlook is still grim for late stage diagnosis, there are also proven and promising mesothelioma treatments to make life more comfortable and sometimes buy a few more precious months.
The attorneys at Wallace & Graham offer focused knowledge and demonstrated results in mesothelioma litigation. We have represented clients across North Carolina and throughout the United States, even overseas. We have relationships with leading research hospitals and top oncologists nationwide to help clients improve their prognosis.
What Is Mesothelioma? • Other Asbestos Diseases • Symptoms and Diagnosis
Mesothelioma Treatment Options
Because most people are diagnosed in late stages, average life expectancy from diagnosis is 18 months. Treatment can be curative (eradicating the cancer) or palliative (alleviating symptoms), or both.
Surgery - Some people are candidates for surgical intervention in stages I to III. Radical pleurectomy - removal of the entire pleura to cure mesothelioma or prevent its further spread - is one type of surgery that has had impressive survival rates. There are only a few medical centers in the U.S. currently performing this advanced procedure, including Duke University, Harvard University and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Other surgical options may include extrapleural pneumonectomy (removal of the diseased lung and parts of the diaphragm and pleura), lung transplant surgery and removal of small tumors or a portion of the lung.
Talc Pleurodesis - Holes in the degraded pleura leak fluid into the chest cavity, causing pain and breathing problems. Talc pleurodesis is a surgical procedure to repair the damaged sac. The excess fluid is drained and the pleura sealed. This treatment does not slow the disease, but relieves the symptoms.
Chemotherapy - People who are not candidates for curative surgery because of late stage diagnosis or other contraindications are commonly treated with special drugs and chemical agents. Newer chemo treatments not only alleviate pain but extend life by slowing the spread of the disease. Chemotherapy is introduced through the bloodstream, killing cancer cells but also killing many healthy cells. The newer classes of drugs do a better job of targeting only cancer cells so that patients do not get as sick from the treatment.
Radiation Therapy - Ionizing radiation shrinks tumors and destroys cancer cells to slow the spread and ease pain. Like chemo, mesothelioma or lung cancer radiation is primarily intended to treat rather than cure. While more targeted than chemotherapy at killing cancer cells, radiation sickness is an unpleasant to severe side effect.
Multi-Modal Therapy - The most effective approach may be a combination of these treatments: surgery with chemo follow-up, a tandem of chemotherapy and radiation, or perhaps all of the above.
There are risks with any treatment, and the person's age, general health, other diseases and stage of mesothelioma all are factors in the decision of which mesothelioma treatment will work best. Wallace & Graham can guide you to resources for your research and qualified specialists who can help the patient and family members make the right choice.
Working Hard to Pay for Your Proper Care
Mesothelioma treatments are expensive. We document the diagnosis and trace the source of asbestos exposure to build a case for compensation. We pursue employer-paid benefits, government benefits and lawsuits against the corporations that irresponsibly exposed our clients all those years ago.
Contact the lawyers at Wallace & Graham for a free case evaluation. Our Charlotte-based practice represents clients statewide and we also associate with local counsel in asbestos-related cases across the nation.
