Is Asbestos Fiber Type or Concentration More Important in Mesothelioma?
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Is Asbestos Fiber Type or Concentration More Important in Mesothelioma?

ByHolly Zink

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is strongly associated with occupational asbestos exposure. The total asbestos fiber concentration may be associated with an increased risk of mortality. Asbestos fiber type was not as important. A new study looked at different types and concentrations of asbestos fibers in the lung tissues of mesothelioma patients. The team investigated their effects on patient mortality. Asbestos Fiber Analyses A Finnish team of scientists identified 590 patients to study. All patients had malignant pleural mesothelioma and underwent pulmonary asbestos fiber analysis. A pulmonary asbestos fiber type analysis is a special clinical test. It extracts fibers and asbestos bodies from a patient’s lung tissue. Usually, this uses a digestion-and-concentration technique. The examination may even include electron diffraction and energy-dispersive…

Top Three Factors Predicting Mesothelioma Survival are Age, Histological Type, and Surgery Status
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Top Three Factors Predicting Mesothelioma Survival are Age, Histological Type, and Surgery Status

ByHolly Zink

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive malignancy with a dismal prognosis. A new study is predicting mesothelioma survival among male and female patients in the United States. Identifying factors “associated with mesothelioma mortality is important research given the poor prognosis” according to Dr. Bian Liu from the a Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. A new study applied a machine-learning algorithm to 12,210 patients to predict survival. The top three factors were age, histological type, and cancer-directed surgery status. Analyzing Over 12,000 Mesothelioma Patients Scientists from the New York State Department of Health included 12,210 mesothelioma patients. They involved only malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. They excluded cases with unknown diagnostic confirmation and unknown survival…

Asbestos Deaths in Italy Top 4,000 Per Year Decades After Ban
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Asbestos Deaths in Italy Top 4,000 Per Year Decades After Ban

ByAlex Strauss

Researchers in Italy say there were 4,400 asbestos deaths in the country between 2010 and 2016 – more than two decades after the country banned the substance.  Italy was one of the main European producers of asbestos until the 1992 ban. The new report shows the destructive legacy asbestos can have on a country. Most of the asbestos deaths were from lung cancer or malignant mesothelioma. Some people also died of asbestosis or ovarian cancer. The research team says the numbers “suggest the need for appropriate interventions” to protect people from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.  Mesothelioma is Not the Only Fatal Asbestos-Related Disease Asbestos is the primary cause of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is even sometimes referred to…

Annual Report on Cancer Death Rates: Good and Bad News for Mesothelioma Patients
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Annual Report on Cancer Death Rates: Good and Bad News for Mesothelioma Patients

ByAlex Strauss

The latest report on cancer death rates in the US is both good and bad news for people with malignant mesothelioma.  The good news is that the rate of death from all types of cancer has declined in recent years. This is true for both men and women of all races. Better drugs and improved screening tools are some of the reasons.  The bad news for people with mesothelioma is that the likelihood of dying from it is not declining as rapidly as overall cancer death rates. Asbestos cancer continues to confound cancer researchers around the world.  Mesothelioma: A Rare Cancer with High Mortality Malignant mesothelioma is one of the rarest cancers in the US. That is fortunate because the…

Mesothelioma Still Carries Heavy Mortality Burden in U.S.
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Mesothelioma Still Carries Heavy Mortality Burden in U.S.

ByAlex Strauss

Asbestos exposure cost Americans more than 427,000 years of potential life in the first decade of the new millennium. That figure comes from a study on mesothelioma and asbestosis – the two most deadly asbestos-related diseases – conducted by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Using National Center for Health Statistics mortality data, NIOSH researchers evaluated premature deaths and “loss of potentially productive years of life” attributable to either asbestosis or mesothelioma between 1999 and 2010. The data included only people 25 years or older with an underlying cause of death listed on their death certificate of either asbestosis or malignant mesothelioma. When the figures were calculated using the normal life expectancy for each asbestosis victim…