Jesse Diaz was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2007. He was given a very grim forcast: cancer and only six months to live. The doctors at Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI opted to treat Diaz with a new chemotherapy treatment called Hipec. Now, Diaz has beaten the odds. He has been cancer-free for two years, and the future looks bright.
The doctors at Spectrum Health Hospital are calling Hipec the “shake and bake procedure”. According to Dr. Chung, “We call it the ‘shake and bake procedure’ because we would remove everything, put some heated chemotherapy in the abdomen and literally shake the patients, so the chemotherapy would circulate in the abdomen.” And Dr. Chung is cautiously optimistic about the long-term results of this treatment. “These patients have a 5-year survival rate of less than 25%. With this technique, up to 75% survive after 5 years.”
This comes as encouraging news. Often those diagnosed with mesothelioma are already in advanced stages of the cancer, as was Diaz. Hopefully as research and treatments like this improve, so will the outlook for those afflicted with this deadly asbestos-related cancer.
Read the original article, Heated chemotherapy used to treat mesothelioma, over at WZZM13.com.
For more information on asbestos and mesothelioma, visit Asbestos-Mesothelioma.com.
