Author: Alex Strauss

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    Surgery, Tumor Grade Have High Impact on Mesothelioma Survival

    ByAlex Strauss

    A population based analysis of people with malignant pleural mesothelioma suggests that tumor grade and surgery have the greatest impact on overall survival. The study conducted by researchers in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester in New York analyzed the medical records of 9,701 mesothelioma patients from 1973 to 2006.   Their goal was to examine the variables that affect the overall survival in people with mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Of the 9,701 patients followed, 55 percent were still alive six months after diagnosis.  Thirty-three percent survived for a year and another 5 percent were still living five years after their mesothelioma diagnosis.  Younger patients, women, those with the most common (epithelioid) type of…

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    Rise in Mesothelioma Linked to Australian Asbestos Mine

    ByAlex Strauss

    The asbestos-linked cancer mesothelioma is growing at an alarming pace in part of Australia and the government is coming under fire for not doing enough to fight the source of the problem. According to a report in the Australian newspaper The Herald Sun, the number of people killed by mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases in New South Wales will soon overtake the number of people killed in car accidents. Ombudsman Bruce Barbour told the newspaper that the annual total of accident victims of 397 in NSW in 2008 would soon be “dwarfed” by the number of people dying from asbestos cancers. By 2020, the country is expected to see 13,000 cases of mesothelioma annually and 40,000 cases of other asbestos-related…

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    Mesothelioma Causes Turkish Village To Be Evacuated

    ByAlex Strauss

    The Associated Press is reporting that an epidemic of mesothelioma cases is forcing the evacuation of a small Turkish village. Turkey has long been a favorite setting for researchers around the world studying mesothelioma.  A prevalence of a mineral in the soil called erionite appears to dramatically increase the risk that some residents will get the cancer most closely associated with asbestos exposure. According to the AP report, the town of Tuzkoy has a rate of mesothelioma that is 600 to 800 times higher than it is elsewhere in the world.  About 48 percent of deaths in that town, as well as in the nearby villages of Sarihidir and Karain, are from mesothelioma. Tuzkoy was declared a hazardous zone in 2004 and…

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    Mesothelioma High Risk Jobs Confirmed by Study

    ByAlex Strauss

    Shipbuilders, construction workers, and people who help manufacture products made of asbestos have the highest risk of developing pleural mesothelioma, but other types of workers are not completely safe either. Asbestos was widely used in industries around the world for more than 60 years because of its low-cost, fire and chemical resistance, and strength. But in a recent four-year study of 462 French workers (80.3% men), researchers confirmed that industries that put employees in a position to potentially inhale the caustic mineral fibers are most likely to trigger the so-called ‘asbestos cancer’, mesothelioma.  According to recent studies, mesothelioma is the result of chronic irritation and inflammation in the soft tissue (pleura) that encases the lungs.  Although it is relatively rare, mesothelioma…

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    Orphan Drug May Help Shrink Mesothelioma Tumors

    ByAlex Strauss

    The developers of an FDA-designated ‘orphan drug’ for mesothelioma are recruiting patients for a new Phase II clinical trial on soft tissue sarcomas. The drug, called NGR-hTNF is a vascular targeting agent that appears to be able to seek out tumor cells in the body and disrupt their blood vessel formation. An orphan drug is a medicine that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, such as mesothelioma or liver cancer. The new clinical trial will test NGR-hTNF’s effectiveness against certain soft tissue sarcomas alone or in combination with the drug doxorubicin. In addition to the newly-announced clinical trial, the drug’s manufacturer, Italy-based MolMed S.p.A, has also been conducting Phase III clinical trials specifically in malignant pleural…

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    Mesothelioma Patients May Benefit from Second Line Chemotherapy

    ByAlex Strauss

    Multiple rounds of chemotherapy, administered several months apart, might do more to help slow the progression of malignant pleural mesothelioma than a single round of chemotherapy, according to a new study. Mesothelioma, also known as ‘asbestos cancer’ attacks the membrane that surrounds the lungs and other organs. Patients with pleural mesothelioma gradually lose breathing capacity as the pleural membrane stiffens and fluid buildup inhibits the ability of the lungs to expand. Most patients diagnosed with the disease will be treated with chemotherapy as part of a multi-modality treatment approach. Cisplatin and pemetrexed (Alimta) are the most commonly used chemo drugs used in the U.S. to treat mesothelioma. But a recent French study suggests that mesothelioma patients may benefit from a…

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    New Drug Combination May Improve Mesothelioma Treatment

    ByAlex Strauss

    A mesothelioma drug approved for use in several European countries has received the backing of the international scientific community. The drug called raltitrexed, whose brand name is Tomudex, was the subject of discussion at the 35th annual European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Milan, Italy. When combined with the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, Tomudex appears to increase the survival rates of mesothelioma patients. That conclusion was backed by studies conducted in 2003 and 2005 by the Netherlands Cancer Institute, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, the Lung Cancer Group and the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the most common form of an aggressive lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It can take…

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    Mesothelioma Study Could Lead to Drug for Prevention

    ByAlex Strauss

    Asbestos exposure is the biggest risk factor for the development of malignant mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive cancer that usually carries a poor prognosis.  The numbers of mesothelioma patients is rising as more people pay the price for years of asbestos exposure.  While researchers around the world search for more effective treatments, a group of scientists in Italy have discovered information that may eventually be used not only to treat but to prevent mesothelioma in high risk patients. Researchers in the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine at the University of Ferrara are studying the presence of adenosine receptors (ARs) in the pleura, or lung lining, of patients with and without malignant mesothelioma.   Adenosine receptors are involved in processes such as…

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    Mesothelioma Diagnosis Improved With New Biomarkers

    ByAlex Strauss

    As scientists continue to look for less invasive ways to diagnose the devastating asbestos-linked cancer mesothelioma, three important biomarkers have emerged in recent months. One of the biggest challenges with mesothelioma is obtaining an accurate diagnosis so that appropriate treatments can be started as soon as possible.  Because mesothelioma symptoms tend to be ambiguous and can mimic the symptoms of other diseases, this is rarely simple.  Many mesothelioma patients are not diagnosed until the disease is in its later stages and most patients survive only 6 to 18 months after diagnosis. But a study conducted at Oxford University and published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine may help to improve those odds.  The English researchers studied levels…

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    Predicting Mesothelioma Outcomes Based on New Research

    ByAlex Strauss

    Certain clinical and laboratory results can help doctors predict which patients are likely to do better than others in their battle against malignant pleural mesothelioma.  That’s the conclusion of a group of researches in Turkey who evaluated the medical charts of 363 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who had been diagnosed over a span of 20 years. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive cancer of the lining around the lungs, also called the pleura.  While it is always a serious health challenge, understanding an individual patient’s prognosis can help doctors with treatment and palliative planning – without having to perform invasive procedures. For this latest study, to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Respiration, The Turkish researchers looked at…