Author: Alex Strauss

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    Mesothelioma Risk Created by Careless Thieves

    ByAlex Strauss

    Some thieves in Massachusetts may end up paying with their lives for stealing copper pipes from abandoned buildings. That is because the thieves inadvertently exposed themselves to mesothelioma-causing asbestos fibers when they ripped off old insulation to get at the pipes. They stole the old copper pipes to sell them for scrap. Because the buildings were built when the use of asbestos in insulation was at its peak in the 1960s, the pipes may be surrounded by a thick blanket of hazardous asbestos insulation. Asbestos in insulation and other building products is not considered a health hazard when left in place and intact, but disturbing it can create clouds of fibers that have been linked to mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung scarring, and…

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    Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivor Used Heat and Chemotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Patients and families struggling with malignant mesothelioma can take some encouragement from the case of a long-time mesothelioma survivor, published recently in a medical journal. The patient, a 61-year-old Japanese man with a five year history of asbestos exposure, was referred to the hospital for chest pain. A computed tomography scan showed thickening on his right pleura (the lining around the lungs) and some small nodules. When doctors did a more thorough investigation using video-assisted thoracoscopy, they found a tumor growing on the muscles of the chest wall. Histopathological evaluation identified it as the sarcomatoid type of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Sarcomatoid is the most aggressive mesothelioma cell type. Because there is no consistent cure for mesothelioma, most clinicians choose to take a…

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    New Program May Predict Mesothelioma Radiotherapy Response

    ByAlex Strauss

    Doctors at a cancer research facility in Germany have recently tested a new way to help clinicians plan and predict outcomes for mesothelioma patients who have radiotherapy. One of the most difficult aspects of treating mesothelioma is creating an individualized treatment plan from the few available treatment options. Because mesothelioma tends to grow rapidly – often claiming lives within a year of diagnosis – it is crucial that doctors quickly choose the therapy combination that is most likely to produce results. Doctors investigating a new prognostic computer program at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg say the program produces a visual representation that may make mesothelioma treatment planning easier. Using population-based dose response curves and the  prescribed dose as the common…

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    Town’s Asbestos and Mesothelioma Risk Subject of Study

    ByAlex Strauss

    University of Pennsylvania researchers have announced that they will use a $1.2 million National Institutes of Health grant to study the residual effects of asbestos, the mineral that causes mesothelioma, on the town of Ambler, Pennsylvania. Once a bustling asbestos manufacturing town, Ambler is now home to two EPA Superfund cleanup sites. The Ambler Asbestos Piles, also known as the ‘White Mountains’, and the BoRit Asbestos site are all that is left of an industry that both supported and put the community at risk starting in 1897. Before it was known that asbestos caused mesothelioma and other health problems, thousands of unprotected workers had already been exposed. The mesothelioma risk in Ambler continued into the 1980’s when the last remaining…

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    Genes Predict Mesothelioma Treatment Response

    ByAlex Strauss

    University of Chicago researchers have released the results of genetic studies they hope will shed some light on why some mesothelioma patients respond well to pemetrexed (Alimta) while others do not. In 2004, pemetrexed was the first medicine approved by the FDA specifically for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma.  It has since also been approved for the treatment for small cell lung cancer.  While it has been hailed as a breakthrough mesothelioma drug, and has become the gold standard for chemotherapeutic treatment of the disease, pemetrexed also has many serious side effects including low white blood cell counts, low blood platelets, anemia, fatigue and nausea. In addition, pemetrexed does not work for all mesothelioma patients.  The ability to predict which patients are…

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    New ‘Calculator’ May Help Guide Mesothelioma Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    An NIH study claims to have found a better way to predict treatment response and survival in peritoneal mesothelioma patients. The information could be used to individualize treatment planning and determine which patients are most likely to benefit from aggressive therapies. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that arises in the thin membrane that lines the walls of the abdomen. Like all forms of mesothelioma, it is highly aggressive, spreading across the membrane quickly and metastasizing to other parts of the body. It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos sometime in the patient’s past. Treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma usually consists of surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible (cytoreductive surgery) followed by a wash of heated…

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    Neoadjuvant Chemo Combo May Improve Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    For treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma prior to surgery, one chemotherapy combination may be better than another.  That is the central message of a recent Italian study published in Anticancer Research. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It affects the membranes around organs and is often incurable. According to some studies, patients who have the best odds of survival are those who undergo multimodal therapy, including some combination of chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy. The folate antimetabolite pemetrexed (Alimta) was the first chemotherapy drug specifically approved for the treatment of mesothelioma. It can be used prior to surgery (neoadjuvant) as a way to shrink a tumor and make it more operable, or after surgery (adjuvant) as a way…

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    Implantable Catheter May Provide Mesothelioma Symptom Relief

    ByAlex Strauss

    An implantable catheter that allows cancer patients to drain their own excess lung fluid at home may improve quality of life for some mesothelioma patients. A company-sponsored study of the PleurX drainage system conducted in Germany and published in a German medical journal, suggests that the system may be especially beneficial for late-stage mesothelioma patients. Pleural mesothelioma is a malignancy of the pleural lining which surrounds the lungs. In its later stages, mesothelioma often results in pleural effusions, or a build-up of fluid in the space between the inner and outer parts of the pleura. The problem is also common in the later stages of lung cancer and breast cancer. Pleural effusions limit the ability of the lungs to expand, resulting in…

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    New Drug May Slow Spread of Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    The first trials of a new drug for mesothelioma show it might be able to help slow the progression of the disease in patients with a certain genetic abnormality. About half of mesothelioma patients have been found to be lacking a gene responsible for suppressing the growth of tumors. The gene, called NF2, produces a protein called merlin which, in turn, regulates another protein called focal adhesion kinase (FAK). When NF2 is inactivated, merlin is lacking and unchecked FAK activity can cause mesothelioma cells to become active and spread. But a multi-center Phase I study of a compound called GSK2256098 suggests that it may be able to slow or even stop the spread of this cancer by restoring the activity of NF2…

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    Mesothelioma Study Could Improve Immunotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists have made an important discovery about a component of the immune system that could have an impact on mesothelioma, one of the rarest and most aggressive cancers. Although mesothelioma is rare, it claims about 2,500 lives in the U.S. annually. Scientists around the globe are searching for a method to keep this cancer from spreading across the membranes that surround the lungs or line the abdomen. As mesothelioma tumors on these membranes grow larger, the likelihood that the cancer will spread to the lungs or other internal organs increases. The immune system is designed to help stop the spread of invaders or out-of-control cancer cells. One immune cell, the Natural Killer or NK cell, is known to exert an anti-tumor effect…