| | | |

Palliative Care for Mesothelioma: Earlier is Not Necessarily Better

ByAlex Strauss

palliative care for mesotheliomaNew research suggests that palliative care for mesothelioma may be most helpful in later stages of the disease.

Scientists in the UK and Australia say there is no reason for most mesothelioma patients to be referred to a palliative care specialist when they are diagnosed.

As long as patients have access to palliative care when they need it, early referral does not seem to make much difference in quality of life.

What is Palliative Care for Mesothelioma?

Palliative care for mesothelioma aims to manage the symptoms of the disease and the treatment.

Chest pain and shortness of breath are common symptoms of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma treatment can cause fatigue, nausea, and weight loss.

Physical symptoms can cause depression or anxiety, which can make treatment harder.

A palliative care specialist offers ways to make these kinds of symptoms more tolerable for patients. Some studies show early palliative care can improve life quality for cancer patients.

Palliative Care Referral and Quality of Life

The new study focuses on the cases of 174 mesothelioma patients diagnosed between 2014 and 2016.

Patients received treatment at one of 19 UK hospitals or a large Australian hospital.

The goal was to see what role palliative care could play in how mesothelioma patients felt in the early months of their illness.

Some study subjects saw a palliative care specialist within three weeks of diagnosis. These patients had a consultation about palliative care for mesothelioma once a month.

Another group of patients had standard treatment for malignant mesothelioma. They did not get a referral for palliative care.

Both groups of patients filled out questionnaires about their health-related quality of life every four weeks.

What Difference Did Palliative Care for Mesothelioma Make?

After three months, the researchers saw no difference in health-related quality of life between the two groups of patients.

The patients who received palliative care for mesothelioma and the patients who did not had similar levels of depression and anxiety.

The palliative care did not make any difference in how the patients’ caregivers were feeling either.

The researchers concluded that there was no reason for patients to receive palliative care for mesothelioma until they need it.

“There is no role for routine referral to specialist palliative care (SPC) soon after diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma for patients who are cared for in centres with good access to SPC when required,” they write.

The UK and Australia have the highest per capita rates of malignant mesothelioma in the world.

Source:

Brims, F, et al, “Early specialist palliative care on quality of life for malignant pleural mesothelioma: a randomised controlled trial”, January 19, 2019, Thorax, Epub ahead of print, https://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/2019/01/18/thoraxjnl-2018-212380

Similar Posts

  • | |

    Doctors Describe "Concrete Therapeutic Approach" for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A team of medical researchers in Italy have achieved what they are calling “excellent” tumor control and survival results in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Caused by exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma typically spreads quickly across the lung-encasing membrane called the pleura. There is no known cure but treatments are improving. In the current prospective study, 20 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients underwent radical pleurectomy/decortication followed by high doses of radiation. After surgeons removed as much of the visible mesothelioma tumor and surrounding tissue as possible, patients received 50Gy of radiation to the effected side of their chest, delivered in 25 fractions. Regions of particular concern for mesothelioma regrowth got an extra radiation “boost” to…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

    ByAlex Strauss

    A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…

  • | |

    Does Radiotherapy Reduce Mesothelioma Pain?

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new study says there is not enough evidence to support the use of radiotherapy for the treatment of pain associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland reviewed a range of past studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy by searching databases that date back as far as 1974. To be eligible to be included in their review, the study had to focus on malignant pleural mesothelioma and radiotherapy given “with the intent of improving pain”. The study also had to report doses and fractionation of the radiotherapy and how the pain responded. In all, the researchers found eight studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy that met the criteria. Two of the studies were prospective…

  • |

    Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Australia’s Cancer Council is trying to educate home renovators about their risk for mesothelioma with a new e-learning course. Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because of several asbestos mining operations that were once located there. Although asbestos has been banned from building products in Australia since 1989, asbestos-linked diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis continue to pose a serious health concern. While mesothelioma has traditionally occurred among people exposed to asbestos on the job, Australia is now bracing for another “wave” of mesothelioma victims among homeowners who encounter asbestos while doing their own renovation projects. Cancer Council Australia has launched “kNOw asbestos in your home” in an effort to…

  • | |

    Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma: Better But Still Limited

    ByAlex Strauss

    A form of highly-targeted radiation therapy for mesothelioma is better than it used to be, but is still risky. That is the message of a recent article on intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Author Kenneth E. Rosenzweig, MD, a Radiation Oncologist with Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, reviewed recent studies on IMRT and mesothelioma. He concludes that, while the “troubling toxicity” associated with IMRT when it was first introduced has not been entirely eliminated, the fact that clinicians now have more experience with it is making a positive difference for mesothelioma patients. Before targeted therapies like IMRT were available, high-dose radiation was not usually a feasible option for mesothelioma since the irregular shape…

  • | | |

    Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia

    ByAlex Strauss

    Australia is bracing for an expected new wave of mesothelioma cases in the next decade and the Lung Foundation of Australia is taking action now to get ready. The Foundation has paid for ten nurses from around the country to receive specialized training in helping patients and families cope with mesothelioma. The nurses, who have recently completed the training, are now equipped to lead treatment planning for these complex cancer patients and to help other nurses do the same. Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in the lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, a toxin that was once alarmingly prevalent in Australia where it was mined and heavily used in construction. Because…