Author: Alex Strauss

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    Modest Increase in Mesothelioma Survival from Chemotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    The chemotherapy combination that has become the standard of care for mesothelioma in many parts of the world appears to be making a modest but measurable difference for mesothelioma patients in The Netherlands. Mesothelioma is caused almost exclusively by inhalation or ingestion of asbestos fibers and is notoriously resistant to most conventional treatments. Within the last decade, chemotherapy with cisplatin-antifolate combinations has been shown to improve responses and prolong survival. Based on the successes shown in clinical trials, a trio of research scientists in The Netherlands launched their own population-based study to “assess the impact of this development on clinical practice and survival at a population-based level.” The study focused on 4,731 Dutch patients diagnosed with mesothelioma between 1995 and…

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    Actor’s Death Highlights Mesothelioma Risk in Australia

    ByAlex Strauss

    An Australian film actor best known in the U.S. for playing opposite Mel Gibson in Gallipoli has died ofmesothelioma.  Harold Hopkins died in a Sydney hospital where he was receiving hospice care.  He was 67 years old. Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the thin tissue around internal organs.  It is often considered an occupational disease, since many people come into contact with the asbestos that causes it while working in various industrial settings.  Although actors are not typically thought to be at high risk for mesothelioma, Hopkins reportedly encountered asbestos long before his acting career began.  According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, he was exposed to asbestos as early as the 1960’s while working his first job after high school…

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    Canada Halts Mining of Mesothelioma-Causing Asbestos

    ByAlex Strauss

    A country that was once the world’s top producer of mesothelioma-causing asbestos has stopped production for the first time in 130 years. Mining of the controversial mineral has come to a halt at Canada’s two remaining asbestos mines because of money and logistical problems. Health officials around the world have been highly critical of Canada’s asbestos industry and its exportation policies because of the clear link between asbestos and deadly mesothelioma.  Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the tissue encasing the lungs and lining of the abdomen, is on the rise worldwide, especially in third-world countries where asbestos is still used as a cheap additive to building materials.  Many of these countries are top importers of Canadian asbestos. Canada once dominated…

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    Mesothelioma Risk in Consumer Products

    ByAlex Strauss

    Tremolite asbestos is a non-commercial form of amphibole mineral found in some chrysotile, talc and vermiculite deposits.  Like all forms of asbestos, it carries the risk of asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.  Although people who live or work around asbestos mines or work directly with asbestos-containing products are at greatest risk, tremolite may also pose a mesothelioma risk to consumers. A recent study by a California firm called ChemRisk is warning that hundreds of consumer products contain mesothelioma-causing tremolite.  To get an idea just how great the mesothelioma risk is, the group looked at the exposure-response relationship in two high-asbestos environments – the Thetford chrysotile mine in Canada and the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana.  For people working in these…

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    Mesothelioma or Lung Cancer? Pleural Fluid May Tell

    ByAlex Strauss

    One of the biggest challenges in treating malignant pleural mesothelioma is making a definitive diagnosis. Mesothelioma is a cancer that occurs in the membranous tissue encasing the lungs and other organs. It is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. Although mesothelioma is not technically a lung cancer, many of its most common symptoms, such as shortness of breath and coughing, are similar to lung cancer and other lung diseases. Like mesothelioma, many of these diseases cause a buildup of fluid around the lungs known as pleural effusion.  But there are subtle differences in the biochemical composition of that fluid from one disease to the next. A team of medical researchers in Japan is testing a new method for detecting and using…

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    New Approach to Predict Mesothelioma Drug Response

    ByAlex Strauss

    In the ongoing worldwide effort to find better treatments for mesothelioma cancer, a group of Italian doctors believe they have a better way of determining which patients will respond to a cancer medication called Gefitinib. A cell protein called Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase is overexpressed in the cells of certain types of cancers, including mesothelioma.  EGFR overexpression can cause uncontrolled cell replication and faster tumor growth.  As an effective EGRF inhibitor, Gefitinib can sometimes help stop that uncontrolled growth.   But the treatment doesn’t work as well in all patients. In a study published in the Public Library of Science, the Italian researchers say the presence of estrogen and estrogen receptors may help determine which mesothelioma patients need Gefitinib most. …

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    New Blood Test May Help Diagnose Mesothelioma Earlier

    ByAlex Strauss

    Investigators in California are evaluating new technology that could eventually help diagnose mesothelioma with a simple blood test. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.  It strikes about 2,500 people in the U.S. each year.  But its rarity – and its tendency to mimic other lung-related diseases – can make mesothelioma hard to diagnose.  In recent years, some mesothelioma centers have begun evaluating the DNA composition of suspected mesothelioma cells using a test called a DNA array. Now, a group of researchers in California reports that a different type of evaluation – one that looks for abnormal sugars (glycans) in blood serum – may offer another diagnostic option for mesothelioma.  Anti-glycan antibodies are produced by the immune system…

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    Mesothelioma Sometimes Spreads to Unexpected Places

    ByAlex Strauss

    The asbestos-linked cancer mesothelioma is usually found in the pleural cavity around the lungs, or the peritoneal cavity encasing the abdomen. But several new studies are reminders of the fact that mesothelioma can spread (metastasize) to unexpected areas of the body. An article in a recent issue of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery details the case of a 72-year-old woman who was successfully treated for malignant pleural mesothelioma, only to have the disease show up again 2 years later in her colon.  After receiving a diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma, the patient underwent surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.  But after two years of follow-up, she was admitted to the hospital with anemia and a CT scan found a large bleeding polyp in…

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    Later Exposure Lowers Mesothelioma Risk

    ByAlex Strauss

    The later in life a person is exposed to asbestos, the less likely they are to develop mesothelioma, regardless of how long the exposure is.  That is the conclusion of a large population-based control study in France aimed at calculating the risk of mesothelioma among workers based on the time and duration of their asbestos exposure. Asbestos is the only known cause of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer in the tissue around the lungs. Asbestos was once a common component of building materials and insulation in France, just as it was in the rest of Europe and the U.S. Most people who develop mesothelioma have been exposed to asbestos at work or at home at multiple times in their lives. For the new…

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    Radiotherapy and EPP is a Winning Combo for Some Mesothelioma Patients

    ByAlex Strauss

    Another study has confirmed the value of radiotherapy as an adjuvant treatment for mesothelioma patients who undergo extrapleural pneumonectomy. A team of Italian researchers recently analyzed the records of 56 mesothelioma patients who had been treated with adjuvant radiotherapy after extrapleural pneumonectomy surgery (EPP) between 2005 and 2010. Caused by exposure to asbestos, malignant mesothelioma is a fast-growing cancer of the mesothelial lining around the lungs and other organs. Extrapleural pneumonectomy is a radical surgical procedure that involves removing not only the mesothelioma tumors, but also the lung closest to the tumor and a portion of the diaphragm. Although EPP is controversial due to its high rate of complications, a number of studies have shown it to increase survival, especially…