Mesothelioma Drug Side Effect Relieved by Surgery
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Mesothelioma Drug Side Effect Relieved by Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

A team of plastic surgeons in New York have had good luck dealing with one of the bothersome side effects of the mesothelioma drug, Alimta. Alimta (pemetrexed) is considered the gold standard chemotherapy drug for malignant pleural mesothelioma. It is often combined with the platinum-based drug cisplatin as a primary mesothelioma treatment or to help shrink mesothelioma tumors before or after surgery. It is also used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. But, like other powerful chemotherapy drugs, Alimta causes certain side effects, one of which can be swelling of the eyelids. While not life-threatening, eyelid swelling or “edema” can impact quality of life for mesothelioma patients and others on Alimta. But a new article in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive…

Mesothelioma Survival Impacted by Lack of Surgery
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Mesothelioma Survival Impacted by Lack of Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

A team of surgical oncologists say failure to treat peritoneal mesothelioma with surgery is costing too many patients their lives. Researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin studied survival statistics for more than 1,500 patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, a form of mesothelioma that occurs in the abdomen. They concluded that many more of them could survive longer if they were treated with surgery. Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, the research team identified 1,591 patients diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma between 1973 and 2010. The median age of the studied patients was 74 years and most had metastatic disease, meaning that their mesothelioma had spread beyond the peritoneal membrane that lines the abdomen. Of those 1,591 peritoneal…

Radical Surgery Outcomes Better in Women
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Radical Surgery Outcomes Better in Women

ByAlex Strauss

Women with epithelial mesothelioma who receive induction chemotherapy prior to surgery have the highest chance of benefitting from the radical surgical approach known as extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). That is the conclusion reached by a team of thoracic surgeons from nine Italian medical centers. The team collected outcome and survival data on 518 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who underwent lung-removing extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) surgery between 2000 and 2010. Most of the patients in the study (84.4%) had the epithelial variety of mesothelioma, the most common subtype of pleural mesothelioma. A little over half of the study subjects had chemotherapy prior to their surgery. Known as induction or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the goal of this treatment is to shrink mesothelioma tumors to improve…

Study Finds Higher Risk with Mesothelioma EPP Surgery
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Study Finds Higher Risk with Mesothelioma EPP Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Yet another team of researchers is weighing in on the ongoing debate over the different kinds of surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma and the news is not good for patients considering the most invasive approach. The newest study involved thoracic surgeons from Stanford University and UCLA, Cardiothoracic surgeons from the University of Chicago and the University of Washington, and Biostatisticians from Duke University. Together, the researchers analyzed the outcomes of 225 mesothelioma patients from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons-General Thoracic Database who underwent either pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) or the more radical extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Pneumonectomy literally means removal of the lung. As the most invasive pleural mesothelioma surgical approach, EPP involves removing the entire pleural lining where mesothelioma starts, as well…

Mesothelioma Surgery Debate: Experience is the Answer
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Mesothelioma Surgery Debate: Experience is the Answer

ByAlex Strauss

A pair of researchers in the UK say a cancer center’s level of experience in dealing with mesothelioma may be the most important factor in achieving good surgical outcomes – not which surgery is chosen. Their new meta-analysis is the latest in a long line of studies attempting to discern which type of mesothelioma surgery is best for patients in terms of survival and complications. The global medical community remains sharply divided over the risks and benefits of lung-sparing pleurectomy/decortication vs. lung-removing extrapleural pneumonectomy. In the newest study, authors Sotiris and Sayonara Papaspyros analyzed the results of 16 separate studies comparing P/D to EPP in the treatment of mesothelioma. They found a median survival range from 8.1 to 32 months…

Factors Predict Long-Term Survival After Mesothelioma Surgery
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Factors Predict Long-Term Survival After Mesothelioma Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Two thoracic surgeons from Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, England have come up with a list of factors they say can be used to predict long term survival in mesothelioma patients who undergo radical surgery. Noting that the factors predicting poor outcomes from mesothelioma surgery have already been determined, Drs. Apostolos Nakas and David Waller say their goal was to determine the predictors of positive surgical outcomes. The two retrospectively reviewed the records of 252 patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a virulent form of cancer caused by asbestos inhalation. The epithelioid variety of mesothelioma was identified in 193 of the tested patients. The rest had the rarer biphasic type. There are two major types of radical surgery for pleural mesothelioma…

Value of Mesothelioma Surgery Challenged for Healthy Patients
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Value of Mesothelioma Surgery Challenged for Healthy Patients

ByAlex Strauss

New research conducted in Italy and presented at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Sydney, Australia suggests that mesothelioma surgery – no matter what kind – may not offer a survival advantage over medical management for the healthiest of patients. Mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive malignancy that is highly resistant to standard cancer treatments. The two types of mesothelioma surgery considered to be options for people with resectable cancer are pleurectomy decortication (P/D) or extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). While EPP is more radical than P/D because it involves removing a lung, both carry a heavy risk of complications and, according to the Italian researchers, may not be of value for certain patients. The study reviewed data from 1,365…

Mesothelioma Surgery May Have Added Benefit
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Mesothelioma Surgery May Have Added Benefit

ByAlex Strauss

Cancer researchers at Wake Forest University have found another benefit to the cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) combination used to treat peritoneal mesothelioma and other abdominal cancers: the control of fluid buildup. Fluid accumulation in the abdomen because of peritoneal mesothelioma or another type of cancer is known as ascites. Left untreated, ascites can cause bloating, discomfort, disfiguration, and shortness of breath when it interferes with the movement of the diaphragm. While patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the peritoneal surface, can have this fluid drained off, it often reaccumulates. But the new Wake Forest research suggests that CRS/HIPEC may offer a more permanent solution. Fifteen percent of the cancer patients in the study had…

P/D for Mesothelioma: Are the Studies Accurate?
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P/D for Mesothelioma: Are the Studies Accurate?

ByAlex Strauss

A new analysis of pleurectomy/decortication suggests that the most radical form of the surgery produces the best results for mesothelioma patients, but also carries the greatest risk. Pleurectomy/decortication or P/D involves the removal of the pleural lining where malignant mesothelioma grows. Removing all or part of the lining frees up the lungs to expand again, relieving life-limited mesothelioma symptoms such as shortness of breath. But, as the Australian researchers found in their mesothelioma analysis, the varying degrees of P/D can make it difficult to accurately compare the method to the more extensive lung-removing surgery or even to get an accurate picture of P/D outcomes. Extended or ‘radical’ P/D involves removing the entire pleural lining, while partial P/D involves removing only part…

Mesothelioma Study Cites Risks & Benefits of Second Surgery
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Mesothelioma Study Cites Risks & Benefits of Second Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Peritoneal mesothelioma patients who have cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and heated chemotherapy can sometimes benefit from a second surgery, but it may be harder the second time around. Researchers in France have recently published their findings in a study of patients with mesothelioma and other peritoneal cancers who experienced recurrence after  cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Peritoneal mesothelioma is an asbestos-related malignancy that spreads across the peritoneum, the membrane that lines the abdomen. For patients who are healthy enough to undergo it, cytoreductive surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, followed by a solution of heated chemotherapy drugs, has been shown to improve survival. But the French team wanted to examine the possible options for people…