People in Pennsylvania who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma have a type of cancer that affects the lining of organs, such as the lungs and heart. Mesothelioma is often not discovered until its late stages, and treatment can be difficult. A study at Nagoya University in Japan has found that a treatment called near-infrared phototherapy may help.
The study
The study was done on human cell lines and on mice, but the therapy has not yet been done on humans who have mesothelioma. It found that near-infrared phototherapy might successfully treat cancer cells without doing damage to nearby cells. Other studies have examined the use of near-infrared phototherapy for cancer treatment, but they have not focused specifically on using it to treat mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is detected by the excessive presence of a type of protein, and researchers injected a compound into the mice that would make it possible for the cancer cells to absorb the light energy of phototherapy.
The use of near-infrared light
Unlike ultraviolet light, near-infrared light is not harmful to the skin. It is already in being used to treat some people who have head and neck cancer and who are enrolled in phase III clinical trials. These are patients who have already had two other types of therapy that failed.
Asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma. Symptoms usually appear several decades after the exposure, and people who are suffering with mesothelioma might think that for this reason, they cannot claim compensation. However, this is not necessarily the case, and compensation can be important for paying for a person’s medical expenses and other costs, such as lost income. If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may want to contact an attorney to find out what your rights are and what the procedure might be for seeking compensation.