Systemic Therapy
Systemic therapy is that which addresses the entire body, not just one particular part of the body. In cancer treatment, the goal of systemic therapy is to eliminate cancer cells that may have spread to other parts of the body rather than just that area where the cancer was originally diagnosed. Even if there is no evidence that that cancer has spread, systemic therapy can still address the possibility that it has done so and is sometimes used as a sort of "insurance policy."
Decisions about systemic treatment are made after studying the specifics of the cancer and determining its stage and the patient's prognosis. For example, if the cancer is aggressive and is considered likely to spread, like most mesotheliomas, then the need for systemic therapy is great.
Types of systemic therapy include:
- Chemotherapy - The most widely-used form of systemic cancer therapy, chemotherapy is prescribed for most types of cancer, including mesothelioma. This therapy is given in pill form or by direct injection into the bloodstream and is designed to kill cancer cells by halting their ability to reproduce.
- Immunotherapy - Immunotherapy is a form of medical treatment that tries to imitate the body's immune system in order to fight the disease; i.e. it tries to trick the body's defenses into blocking cancer cell activity. Vaccines are considered a part of this category. Immune therapy that is considered "passive" might also involve giving the patient's body the anti-body it lacks so that its immune system can fight the cancer.
- Anti-Angiogenesis Therapy - Available only through clinical trials, this type of therapy halts the growth of new blood vessels that would otherwise feed cancer cells, therefore starving the cancer of the things it needs to grow. Only limited success has been offered thus far through this type of therapy, but research continues in the field.
