Mesothelioma Treatment Provides Survival Advantage to Women
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Mesothelioma Treatment Provides Survival Advantage to Women

ByAlex Strauss

A new study suggests that women have a survival advantage over men when it comes to treatment for the most common type of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Although as many as 90 percent of people who contract the asbestos-linked cancer are men, women who contract the disease in its most common form are more likely to respond well to aggressive treatment.  The study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery reviewed 702 cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma.  Of those, 145 were women. The researchers found a definite difference in survival for men and women with one type of mesothelioma but they found no gender difference with the other type. Among the 450 men and women with the most common histological type…

Mesothelioma Survival is Higher with Radical Lung-Sparing Surgery
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Mesothelioma Survival is Higher with Radical Lung-Sparing Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Open radical lung-preserving surgery appears to offer a significant survival advantage over non-radical, palliative surgery in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. That is the finding of a new study published in the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Pleural mesothelioma is caused by inhaling asbestos fibers, which irritate the delicate lung tissue, leading to chronic inflammation and, sometimes, malignancy. Lung-preserving (or debulking) surgery for mesothelioma falls into two categories: radical, an invasive procedure during which affected lung tissue is removed, and non-radical, which is aimed at releasing the contracture in the mesothelium surrounding the lungs to allow for more comfortable breathing. Researchers from Nottingham, England compared the outcomes of 13 mesothelioma patients who had had the more invasive radical decortication with…

Mesothelioma Patients Stigmatized Study Says
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Mesothelioma Patients Stigmatized Study Says

ByAlex Strauss

Patients with mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, may bear the brunt of public prejudice against lung cancer, according to a new study. Although mesothelioma is a rare cancer, attacking just 2,000 to 3,000 Americans each year, the most common form, which occurs in the linings around the lungs, is classified as lung cancer.  According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancers of all kinds are the most prevalent cancer killer worldwide, claiming more lives than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined.  Asbestos exposure has also been shown to cause lung cancers other than mesothelioma, and may account for many more deaths. But a new study commissioned by the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC) says, despite…

Cold Plasma Appears to Improve Mesothelioma Treatment
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Cold Plasma Appears to Improve Mesothelioma Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

Adding a technique called Cold Plasma Coagulation to the mix when using surgery and intra-operative chemotherapy seems to help protect mesothelioma patients against certain complications, according to a new study. Mesothelioma, a malignancy that affects the linings around the lungs and internal organs, is caused by asbestos exposure and is notoriously difficult to treat. Depending on the stage of their cancer and their health status, most patients receive a combination of treatments which may include chemotherapy, radiation, radical surgery (Extrapleural pneumonectomy or EPP), or pleurectomy and decortication (P/D), a less radical surgical approach. Even with these various combinations, many patients succumb to the disease within 18 months of diagnosis. In an effort to improve mesothelioma survival rates, surgeons in recent…

German Mesothelioma Study Has Surprising Result
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German Mesothelioma Study Has Surprising Result

ByAlex Strauss

More invasive surgery doesn’t necessarily improve survival in patients with pleural mesothelioma. A less invasive approach is just as safe and effective, and it helps patients stay healthy enough to undergo additional chemotherapy and radiation treatments, according to a study published online September 16 in the journal, Lung Cancer. Because individual treatments have not had much success against mesothelioma, triple therapy including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation has emerged as the treatment of choice. Surgeons can choose from several different types of procedures, including extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) or pleurectomy/decortication (P/D). However, no official guidelines exist to help them make the decision. “There aren’t prospective, randomized trials comparing different surgical options,” explains Servet Bölükbas, MD, PhD, a surgeon at Dr. Horst Schmidt…

Mesothelioma Survival Improved by Adding Heated Chemotherapy to Surgery
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Mesothelioma Survival Improved by Adding Heated Chemotherapy to Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Delivering a high dose of heated chemotherapy directly into the chest and abdomen during mesothelioma surgery improves patients’ survival without compromising their safety, according to a recent study published in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. The researchers say their results provide real evidence that adding chemotherapy or other drugs to surgery could improve the outcome for mesothelioma patients, particularly those with early-stage cancers. “The exciting thing about this is that a new platform for therapy has been established,” says lead author David J. Sugarbaker, MD, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Any potentially effective therapy is good news to mesothelioma researchers, because this cancer has traditionally been…

Should the Treatment for Mesothelioma be Individualized? A Frog’s Tale
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Should the Treatment for Mesothelioma be Individualized? A Frog’s Tale

ByAlex Strauss

Onconase®, a new type of cancer drug was tested in malignant mesothelioma patients whose tumors were inoperable. Results were not better than standard therapy although a minority of patients reportedly received a great benefit. The FDA has demanded a further clinical trial and now the future of this drug as a potential mesothelioma therapy may be in jeopardy. This story is not unusual, but it highlights the flaws in the drug approval process for mesothelioma and other cancers. Getting a new cancer drug to market is exceedingly expensive (hundreds of millions of dollars) and can take many years. While criticisms of the approval process have focused on its cost in time and money there has been little critique about one…

Does Preventive Radiation After Mesothelioma Surgery Help?
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Does Preventive Radiation After Mesothelioma Surgery Help?

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma patients in the United Kingdom commonly receive radiation to prevent the cancer from spreading after open chest surgical procedures, even though the benefit of this practice has not yet been confirmed. Many doctors would like to have a more comprehensive clinical study performed on the use of preventive radiation, according to a review published in the July issue of the journal, Lung Cancer. Patients with mesothelioma often have fluid build-up in the space around the lungs (pleural effusion). To remove this fluid, doctors must open up the chest and drain it. However, during this and other invasive procedures such as biopsies and thoracoscopies (examination of the inside of the chest), the cancer can spread along the tracts made by…

Mesothelioma Patients Benefit From CT-PET Scan
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Mesothelioma Patients Benefit From CT-PET Scan

ByAlex Strauss

A combination computed tomography-positron emission tomography (CT-PET) scan is more accurate than either CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at staging mesothelioma, preventing many patients with late-stage cancer from having to undergo invasive surgery, according to a recent study in Clinical Lung Cancer. A common mesothelioma treatment for earlier stage disease combines chemotherapy, radiation, and extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP)—a surgery that removes the entire lung, heart lining (pericardium), and diaphragm. Though it is effective at removing cancer cells, EPP is major surgery. Approximately 5% of patients die from the surgery, and many more develop serious complications such as bleeding, respiratory failure, and blood clots. Because of these risks, it is important to determine which patients are the most appropriate candidates before…

Mesothelioma Prognosis and Placenta Growth Factor
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Mesothelioma Prognosis and Placenta Growth Factor

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma, like other cancers, grows and spreads through a process of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels.  Without a blood supply a mesothelioma tumor would starve and die.  Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a protein made by cells that stimulates new blood vessel formation.  Therefore, treatments that slow or stop VEGF in tumors can slow or stop the formation of blood vessels (“anti-angiogenesis”) and thereby halt the growth and spread of cancer. One type of VEGF is placenta growth factor (P1GF).  A recent study investigated whether P1GF is over expressed in mesothelioma.1   If it is this could present a new therapeutic target.  Specimens from twenty-seven patients with mesothelioma were compared with specimens from ten healthy patients.  The researchers…