Author: Alex Strauss

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    Lung Tissue Fibers Can Help Identify Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A team of German researchers says examination of lung tissue for minute fibers of asbestos can be a valuable way to identify asbestos-related lung diseases like mesothelioma – especially when it has been many years since the exposure. Asbestos inhalation is the number one cause of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a fast-growing and deadly cancer that starts in the thin tissue that encases the lungs.  But, because it can take 20 to 40 years for mesothelioma to develop, it is not always easy to link a patient’s lung problems to their asbestos exposure.  Patients may have forgotten the exposure, or may not even be aware of it, as is sometimes the case with people who have had secondhand exposure to asbestos. In such…

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    VATS Preventive Radiation Not Recommended for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients who have thoracoscopic surgery should not necessarily have radiation to keep their cancer from spreading at the surgical site. That’s the conclusion of researchers in Oxford, England who recently published an article on the practice of prophylactic irradiation therapy (PIT) for mesothelioma. Malignant pleural mesothelioma, a serious asbestos-linked lung cancer, is notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat. Because blood and imaging tests are often inconclusive, for a definitive diagnosis many patients have to undergo surgery to remove mesothelioma tumor cells for examination under a microscope. With the use of a thoracoscope, a camera for viewing inside the chest cavity, this procedure can often be done through small puncture wounds instead of the large open incision it used to…

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    Still No Generic Form of Common Mesothelioma Drug

    ByAlex Strauss

    It will be at least another five years before a generic version of one of the most popular drugs used to treat mesothelioma becomes available. Eli Lilly owns the patent on the chemical makeup of pemetrexed disodium, known by the brand name Alimta, which was approved by the FDA in 2004 to treat mesothelioma. Lilly’s patent on Alimta was set to expire in March 2011 but was extended to 2016 after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decided that it had taken an unusually long time for the FDA to approve it. In spite of the extension, late last year, generic drug company Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd. challenged the mesothelioma drug’s patent in an effort to win the rights to…

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    Longer Mesothelioma Survival Possible with Aggressive Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    A “significant proportion” of patients diagnosed with mesothelioma can expect to live three years or longer with the right treatment protocol. That’s the conclusion of one of the nation’s leading mesothelioma experts. Reporting in the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. David Sugarbaker writes that, although many patients diagnosed with mesothelioma are told they have less than a year to live, his latest research confirms that, when properly selected and given aggressive multimodality treatment, it is possible to survive mesothelioma for much longer. Numerous studies have shown that cytoreductive surgery through extrapleural pneumonectomy along with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation can be effective at battling mesothelioma. However, because the surgery itself is so invasive and carries its own health risks, proper…

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    Experimental Mesothelioma Drug Enters Phase 2 Trial

    ByAlex Strauss

    An experimental enzyme-based therapy for malignant mesothelioma has now moved into the second phase of testing in England. The manufacturer of ADI-PEG 20 says the first patient has been enrolled in the Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug under the direction of scientists at the Centre for Experimental Cancer Medicine, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The treatment is based on the idea that certain tumor cells are unable to produce a metabolic enzyme that normal cells already have. Cells need the enzyme, called argininosuccinate synthetase, to produce the amino acid arginine, which is necessary for growth and replication. In a previous study, 63 percent of patients with malignant mesothelioma were found to have little or no…

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    New Biomarker May Help Diagnose Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists in Japan believe that a protein found in the blood serum of rheumatoid arthritis patients may help doctors diagnose malignant pleural mesothelioma earlier. Every year in the U.S., as many as 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fast-growing asbestos-linked cancer that often causes few symptoms until in its later stages, when treatment options may be limited. Because earlier detection can increase the odds of survival, researchers around the world are searching for methods to detect mesothelioma sooner.  Much of that research has centered on substances, known as biomarkers, that are overproduced by tumor cells and can be detected in blood serum. The latest biomarker found to be elevated in mesothelioma cells is serum thioredoxin-1 (TRX), a biomarker for rheumatoid…

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    Photodynamic Therapy – A New Light For Mesothelioma Patients?

    ByAlex Strauss

    A system that uses intense light to destroy cancer cells might be able to enhance current mesothelioma treatments and improve survival. That’s the theory of scientists studying photodynamic light therapy (PDT) and its application for hard-to-treat mesothelioma. During PDT, cells that have been treated with a light sensitizing drug are exposed to a light source on the end of an endoscope. The light has the power to disrupt cellular functions and kill the cells. PDT is being tested as an adjuvant therapy for people who are having mesothelioma surgery. When PDT is delivered intraoperatively, tumor cells can absorb more of the light, while surrounding tissues are unaffected. Advantages of PDT Malignant mesothelioma is highly resistant to conventional therapies. Because PDT…

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    A ‘Breath of Hope’ for Mesothelioma Diagnosis

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new report that analyzes the available data on breath testing for mesothelioma says the technique has great promise for detecting the disease earlier. The study, entitled “Breath analysis in asbestos-related disorders: a review of the literature and potential future applications”, says many of the current invasive methods for diagnosing mesothelioma carry a high risk of complications, especially in the elderly, who are most likely to contract the disease.  Mesothelioma is the most deadly of a group of asbestos-related disorders which also include asbestosis, pleural plaques, and lung cancer.  Because the disease can take from 20 to 50 years to develop, most mesothelioma patients are over 65. Mesothelioma surgery carries many risks, a fact that has prompted researchers around the world to…

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    UK Mesothelioma Families Win Supreme Court Victory

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma patients in the United Kingdom have won an important legal victory in the country’s Supreme Court. The high court has upheld the cases of two women who died of mesothelioma after exposure to relatively low levels of asbestos. Enid Costello was a secretary at a packaging factory where she claims to have been exposed to asbestos dust on the job. Costello died of mesothelioma in 2006 at the age of 74. Her employer, Greif UK, Ltd. claimed that her asbestos exposure at work was not enough to cause her mesothelioma and denied that they were at fault in her death. The second subject of the Supreme Court case was Dianne Willmore of North Wales, who died of mesothelioma in…

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    Computer Evaluation May Help Guide Mesothelioma Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    A computer program designed to help doctors analyze tumors in three dimensions could be a valuable tool for guiding treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a virulent cancer that attacks the membrane surrounding the lungs.  Because it is highly resistant to conventional treatments, an effective method for evaluating the efficacy of a given treatment is vital.  Diagnostic scans that can measure the volume of the tumor over three dimensions are an improvement over measures that only examine two dimensions. Currently, doctors often use a one- or two-dimensional linear method to examine and measure mesothelioma tumors for treatment response.  But a team from the radiology department at the University of Chicago calls that method “insufficient” for mesothelioma and has…