Chemotherapy involves the use of various medicines given by the cancer specialists. These medicines or drugs are made to fight the cancer cells in the body of the victim. All the medicines that are taken, they become a part of the blood and circulate within the entire body. So these medicines or drugs help in a different way than the other treatments because they fight the cancer cells no matter where they are in the body. You may have chemotherapy for mesothelioma alongside surgery and radiotherapy, as a combined treatment.  This approach gives the best control of mesothelioma.  Even if your mesothelioma is not suitable for surgery, chemotherapy may help you to feel better.  But you will have to be fit enough to cope with the side effects of the chemo and you will need to talk this over with your cancer specialist.

The way chemotherapy is carried out:

You usually have chemotherapy into a vein, either through a drip, or as an injection straight into the bloodstream.  You may have treatment with a single drug or several chemotherapy drugs together.A course of chemotherapy is made up of a number of cycles.  You usually have the drugs over a few days.  Then you have a break of a few weeks to allow your body to recover from the effects of the chemotherapy drugs.  Then another cycle begins.  The number of cycles you have depends on

·                      Which drugs you are having     

 ·                      The stage of your mesothelioma     

·                      The results of your tests     

·                      How the mesothelioma responds to the treatment

Most of the treatment is given in out patients, although with some drugs you may have to stay in hospital for a day or two.  This is usually either because you need to have a drip over several days.  Or it may be because you need to have other treatment alongside, such as extra fluids through a drip.  

Peritoneal chemotherapy  

For peritoneal mesothelioma, your specialist may suggest chemotherapy directly into your abdomen.  The doctor has to make a small cut in the wall of your abdomen.  Then the doctor puts a tube called a catheter through the opening and into your tummy (abdomen).  The chemotherapy is given into your abdominal cavity through the catheter.  This can also be done at the same time as cytoreductive surgery, or soon after. The chemotherapy may be heated to a few degrees above body temperature, as some doctors think this may make it more effective in killing the cancer cells. This is called hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIIC).  There are fewer side effects than with chemotherapy into a vein because the chemotherapy drugs stay inside the abdominal cavity.  Very little gets into the blood stream.  This treatment is still experimental and if you are offered it, it may be as part in a clinical trial.  There is information about taking part in a clinical trial in CancerHelpUK.

Supplements with the chemotherapy:   

Doctors are becoming increasingly concerned about dietary supplements and herbal medications. We don’t know what people with cancer are buying over the counter or getting from alternative and complementary therapy practitioners.  There’s nothing wrong with trying to help you get better, but not enough is known scientifically about how some supplements may interact with chemo.
Chemotherapy is a treatment that should be carried out in a systematic manner. People are not aware of the complications and they never can. Tired of the slow process; people suffering from a disease like cancer, may try to take medicines on their own. These kind of may increase the risk of intensifying the cancer instead of getting cured.

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