What is supportive care in mesothelioma?
Supportive care, in mesothelioma as well as any other disease, is treatment designed to make the patient as comfortable as possible, but has nothing to do with curing the cancer. This would include any medications or other ways to reduce pain. It would include oxygen and any other ways to make breathing easier. It would include treating any symptom of the disease that can be treated. There are many medications and many other types of treatment including small surgical interventions that can make patients significantly more comfortable. Supportive care can also be called palliative care.
Pain can be treated with everything from strong narcotics to nerve blocks, where medications are used to block the nerves near the cancer. Sometimes radiation therapy is used to treat pain, because it can shrink the cancer. Shortness of breath can often be alleviated by removing fluid from the peritoneal space, or the abdominal space.