Mesothelioma Experts Take Aim at Radical Surgery
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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…

Advanced Technology Explains Mesothelioma Mechanisms

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,…

Mesothelioma May be Triggered by Suppressed ‘Natural Killer’ Cells
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Mesothelioma May be Triggered by Suppressed ‘Natural Killer’ Cells

ByAlex Strauss

A group of Japanese scientists are offering some new insights into the mechanism by which the toxic mineral asbestos may trigger mesothelioma. For decades asbestos has been linked to malignant mesothelioma, a fast-growing cancer of the mesothelial lining around the lungs and internal organs. But only in recent years have researchers begun to understand the complex physiological responses that give rise to the disease. Because mesothelioma can take 30 years or more to develop symptoms, some scientists have concluded that there is more at work in mesothelioma than the ‘tumorigenicity’ (cancer-inducing properties) of asbestos. Now, researchers from the Kawasaki Medical School in Japan have shown that, in addition to causing cellular inflammation, asbestos may also effectively ‘turn off’ the body’s…

German Mesothelioma Treatment Keeps U.K. Man Alive
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German Mesothelioma Treatment Keeps U.K. Man Alive

ByAlex Strauss

An advanced new mesothelioma treatment developed in Germany is credited for keeping a British man alive – four times longer than he was expected to live. Sixty-five year old Keith Turnbull of Hertfordshire contracted mesothelioma in 2008 because of asbestos from his father’s worth clothes. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that is highly resistant to traditional treatments. At the time of his diagnosis, doctors did not expect Turnbull to live beyond six months. But after 13 trips to Germany to received transarterial chemoembolization, Turnbull is still alive, two and a half years later. Transarterial chemoembolization, pioneered by German Professor Thomas Vogl of the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, attacks tumors from two directions – simultaneously cutting off their blood…

Mesothelioma Rare in the Pre-Asbestos Age
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Mesothelioma Rare in the Pre-Asbestos Age

ByAlex Strauss

If there was any doubt about the direct causal connection between asbestos and the aggressive cancer known as mesothelioma, a new report published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine should put it to rest for good. Researchers from the Department of Pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York analyzed the data on the incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma prior to the widespread commercial use of asbestos.  Although most mesothelioma is known to be linked to occupational asbestos exposure, the scientific community has been divided about whether or not mesothelioma can occur, even without a triggering irritant like asbestos. To answer the question, the team analyzed 2,025 autopsies performed at Mount Sinai Hospital between 1883 and 1910, prior…

Lung Tissue Fibers Can Help Identify Mesothelioma
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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…

Mesothelioma, One Rare Disease in the Spotlight
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Mesothelioma, One Rare Disease in the Spotlight

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma is one of more than 7,000 rare diseases that will be in the spotlight on National Rare Disease Day on February 28th. The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), a consortium of patient organizations, is sponsoring the day to draw attention to mesothelioma and other rare conditions that affect some 30 million Americans. In the U.S., a disease is defined as rare or ‘orphan’ if it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time.  The Centers for Disease Control estimates that fewer than 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year.  Disturbingly, however, the incidence of mesothelioma has risen over the past 20 years in the U.S., and is still rising in Europe. Malignant mesothelioma is the most aggressive…

Excess Iron Linked to Mesothelioma
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Excess Iron Linked to Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

New studies suggest that overloading the body with iron may be another way asbestos can trigger mesothelioma.  And ridding the body of that excess iron may eventually be another way to help manage this cancer. Malignant mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, especially crocidolite and amosite asbestos, whose tiny sharp fibers contain high amounts of iron.  In recent years, medical researchers have confirmed that chronic inflammation caused by the irritation of asbestos fibers appears to be one of the triggers for mesothelioma.  But mounting evidence suggests that the iron in asbestos may also play a role in this aggressive cancer. While iron is essential for health, numerous epidemiological studies have shown it to be carcinogenic in high amounts.  To…

Faulty DNA Repair Genes May Raise Mesothelioma Risk
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Faulty DNA Repair Genes May Raise Mesothelioma Risk

ByAlex Strauss

Not everyone who is exposed to asbestos has the same risk of developing mesothelioma.  Now, new research supports the idea that some people’s genetic inability to repair DNA damage at the cellular level may raise their risk of mesothelioma. When asbestos dust is inhaled, tiny fibers can lodge in the lungs and stay there for decades, causing irritation and inflammation that have been linked to a range of illnesses, including asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. But scientists have not been able to come up with a specific genetic explanation for why different people exposed to the same amount of asbestos dust do not contract these diseases at the same rate. Now, a group of Italian researchers believe they may have found…

Auto Mechanics Unaware of Mesothelioma Risk
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Auto Mechanics Unaware of Mesothelioma Risk

ByAlex Strauss

Thousands of the nation’s auto mechanics may be unaware that they could be at a higher than normal risk for mesothelioma because of asbestos exposure. Asbestos has been used in car manufacturing for many years because of its high heat resistance and strength.  Most commonly found in brake drums and clutches, asbestos has also been used to line the underside of car hoods and in a variety of other engine parts and gaskets. Inhalation of asbestos fibers has been shown to cause a range of health problems of which pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining around the lungs, and peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining around the abdomen, are the most serious. As part of a frequently-cited 4-month study conducted by…