Mesothelioma Symptoms May Benefit from Tuberculosis Drugs

A person with mesothelioma may manifest pleural effusion, considered as one of the most excruciating and event life-limiting mesothelioma symptoms. Pleural effusion occurs with the excessive supply of fluid in the pleural space surrounding the lungs. This usually manifests in later stages of mesothelioma, although this may also afflict patients with other types of cancer.

This mesothelioma symptom restricts breathing and may even prove painful. In fact, effusion is considered one of the most common factors why late-stage mesothelioma patients have difficulty taking a full breath. Most of the time, they may even complain chest pain and fatigue.

Pleural effusion may be remedied by draining the fluid in two ways. One is thoracentesis, while the other is chemically absorbing pleura through pleurodesis. However, these treatments are not only agonizing but they don’t really guarantee complete  recovery for the patient.

To bring light to this grim condition, Chinese researchers can reveal that they have actually discovered a non-invasive procedure to address pleural effusion. They even hinted that they may have unintentionally discovered a new type of cancer treatment.

An article in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology details how the Chinese researchers helped alleviate the condition of a 54-year-old woman with pleural effusion. While it was eventually discovered that her effusion actually originated from the squamous cell carcinoma, the warning signs, which included cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, night sweats, and fever, were also considered to be symptoms of late-stage mesothelioma patients with effusion.

The women’s physicians eventually opted for an unconventional approach to address pleural effusion. While her doctors should have undergone her to the usual procedure, they, instead, decided to prescribe her a cocktail of anti-tuberculosis medications. These included isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifapentine and ethambutol, which are the common antibacterial medicines prescribed to tuberculosis.  The physicians observed the patient’s condition and reported that the treatment actually proved potent in alleviating the woman’s pleural effusion, stabilizing her condition as long as she was taking the medicine.

However, when the doctors stopped giving her the drugs, her effusion returned, although she did not manifest any signs of breathing problems and cough, which actually lasted for sixteen months.  The researchers posited that their findings are actually good news for mesothelioma and cancer patients who are reeling from the pain brought by pleural effusion.

“This report provides useful evidences for that the anti-tubercular agents may have potential anticancer activity in some carcinomas,” they write.