Author: Alex Strauss

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    Mesothelioma Outcomes May Be Improved by New Radiation Therapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    There is evidence that a new type of radiation therapy may have advantages over other methods for treating mesothelioma patients after surgery. A marriage of spiral CT-scanning technology and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), helical tomotherapy offers enhanced precision and the ability to ‘sculpt’ the radiation dose to conform to the size and shape of the tumor being treated. Because mesothelioma tumors tend to be irregular in shape and spread out across the membranous mesothelial tissue, this sculpting ability may help doctors deliver just enough post-surgical radiation to kill remaining cancer cells without damaging large numbers of healthy cells. In a recent study on the technology at the University of Paris, a group of French researchers analyzed the treatment outcomes…

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    Potential Mesothelioma Therapy in a Spice

    ByAlex Strauss

    The major component in the spice turmeric may help treat drug resistant pleural mesothelioma. Researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit have been studying the effects of the compound, known as curcumin, on mesothelioma cells in the laboratory and in animal subjects. Their research suggests that curcumin has the power to attack mesothelioma from several angles. Pleural mesothelioma is an asbestos-related malignancy of the mesothelial tissue surrounding the lungs. It is aggressive and notoriously difficult to treat. The platinum-based chemotherapy drugs often used as a first-line treatment for mesothelioma may be ineffective if the patient has a strain of the disease that is resistant to them. So far, there is no proven alternative drug therapy for these patients. Now, the…

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    Tornado Aftermath: Possible Mesothelioma Risk

    ByAlex Strauss

    Environmental officials are warning that this spring’s rash of severe weather across the Midwest and South could raise the risk of asbestos exposure, mesothelioma and other lung conditions among people involved in the cleanup. Mesothelioma is the rarest of a range of illnesses that can be triggered by exposure to asbestos fibers.  Asbestos was a common component in wall, pipe and attic insulation, roof products, floor tiles, acoustical ceiling tiles, joint compounds, drywall and even paints – especially in homes built before the 1970’s.   Insulation containing asbestos was sold until 1990.  Once asbestos is disturbed and the fibers become airborne, anyone in the vicinity is at greater risk for asbestos caused diseases like mesothelioma. After the dangers of asbestos exposure came to…

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    New Marker Could Improve Mesothelioma Diagnosis

    ByAlex Strauss

    There has been another potential breakthrough in the ongoing worldwide effort to find an effective way to diagnose mesothelioma earlier. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a fast-growing cancer of the mesothelium.  As with all cancers, early detection can greatly improve the odds of survival.  But because the early symptoms can be mild or mimic other lung diseases, mesothelioma is often not definitively diagnosed until its later stages, when treatment may be less effective. Now, a team of Austrian doctors has identified a cellular protein that they say may be a promising diagnostic marker for mesothelioma. Elevated levels of serum integrin-linked kinase, a protein associated with multiple cellular functions, have already been found in cases of ovarian cancer.  To test its presence in mesothelioma…

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    Proteins May Hold Key to Mesothelioma Susceptibility

    ByAlex Strauss

    Altered cellular proteins may reveal clues as to why some people exposed to asbestos get mesothelioma, while others don’t. That is the conclusion of new research conducted in China. Asbestos has long been known to cause mesothelioma, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain largely a mystery. For instance, scientists have been at a loss to say why some people can work around asbestos for years with no ill effects, while others with the same level of exposure contract malignant mesothelioma. Understanding why this happens may not only help predict who is at higher risk, but may also give doctors new targets for treatments. Now, research from China is shedding new light on the subject. The researchers focused…

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    Mesothelioma Experts Take Aim at Radical Surgery

    ByAlex Strauss

    There is disagreement among some of the world’s top mesothelioma experts about the value of the radical surgical treatment known as extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). An asbestos-linked malignancy, pleural mesothelioma grows in a thin sheet across the membranous tissue surrounding the lungs. The cancer may eventually spread to the lung tissue, as well. Fluid buildup and stiffening off the mesothelium by the tumor cells makes it impossible for the lungs to expand normally. Introduced in the 1940’s and modified over the years, EPP involves removal of not only the diseased pleural tissue, but the lung closest to it, the lymph nodes, and portions of the covering of the heart (pericardium) and the diaphragm. Despite a 60 percent complication rate, the radical…

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    White Blood Cells May Predict Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    Certain types of white blood cells may hold important survival clues – as well as a new treatment target – for mesothelioma patients and their doctors. Malignant pleural mesothelioma can result when inhaled asbestos fibers trigger physiological changes in the lung tissue. Medical science has yet to find a reliable way to stop the spread of mesothelioma once it begins and many patients succumb to this disease within a year or two after diagnosis. But mesothelioma tumors are known to produce an abundance of myeloid cell stimulating factors, chemicals that trigger the body to produce extra white blood cells. Now, a team of researchers at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston believe that looking at the levels of these white…

  • Advanced Technology Explains Mesothelioma Mechanisms

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new way of looking at mesothelioma cancer cells is revealing some important information about the ways in which asbestos fibers affect human lung tissue. A group of Italian researchers used a combination of synchrotron soft X-ray imaging and fluorescence microscopy to shed light on exactly what makes asbestos fibers so deadly.  When it is inhaled, asbestos triggers a chain of events that can lead to mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lung lining, as well as a host of other serious lung diseases.  The goal of the Italian study was to better understand the response of lung tissue to asbestos, which can help scientists in their efforts to develop effective mesothelioma treatments. In the lungs, iron-containing asbestos fibers irritate the tissue,…

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    Mesothelioma a ‘Good Target’ for Gene Therapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    The authors of an article to be published in the journal Current Treatment Options in Oncology say that malignant mesothelioma is an especially good target for a novel cancer treatment called gene therapy. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the thin, membranous mesothelial tissue surrounding the lungs, heart or abdomen. Also known as the ‘asbestos cancer’, because of its link to asbestos exposure, mesothelioma is extremely difficult to treat. Based on an evaluation of clinical trials on gene therapy for mesothelioma, the University of Pennsylvania researchers concluded that certain aspects of this disease may make gene therapy a promising option. One mesothelioma characteristic they cited is the tendency for the cancer to remain relatively localized until late in the course…

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    Mesothelioma Risk May Decline in Libby

    ByAlex Strauss

    A small bit of good news for the beleaguered town of Libby, Montana where mesothelioma has become a household word.  Declared a Superfund site by the EPA in 1999 because of high levels of asbestos from its vermiculite mines, Libby has been the site of the massive cleanup operation ever since.  According to the latest report, the EPA claims that the air in Libby is mostly safe to breath. Asbestos is known to cause mesothelioma, as well as asbestosis, lung cancer, and other serious lung disorders.  Libby’s high levels of asbestos, which spewed into the air from the mines and settled like dust across the town for more than 40 years, touched off a rash of mesothelioma cases, bringing it to…