Surgery Provides Better Mesothelioma Diagnosis for Some Patients
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Surgery Provides Better Mesothelioma Diagnosis for Some Patients

ByAlex Strauss

For patients who can tolerate it, a Japanese research team says an operation to remove part of the chest lining may be the best way to diagnose early malignant pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive cancer of the membrane encasing the lungs (pleura), is often difficult to diagnose. A buildup of fluid between the layers of the pleura, known as pleural effusion, is one of the first clinical signs of mesothelioma. For this reason, pleural effusion cytology is often one of the first diagnostic tests performed in suspected cases. Doctors draw off some of the pleural fluid and test it for evidence of cancer cells. But researchers from the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Hyogo College of Medicine…

New Study Finds EPP Improves Mesothelioma Quality of Life
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New Study Finds EPP Improves Mesothelioma Quality of Life

ByAlex Strauss

New research out of Italy casts another vote in favor of the controversial and radical surgical approach known as extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) for treating mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma occurs in the pleural membrane which separated the lungs from other internal organs. As the cancer spreads, it restricts the ability of the lungs to expand. Eventually, pleural mesothelioma can spread into the lungs themselves and other internal membranes. Extrapleural pneumonectomy attempts to prevent metastasis by removing the tissues most likely to be effected, including the lung lining, part of the pericardium (lining around the heart), a portion of the diaphragm, and the diseased lung. Because EPP is so radical and so risky (it carries a 60 percent complication rate), many of the…

Outlook Better for Women with Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Outlook Better for Women with Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Women with diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma have a better chance of success with surgery and chemotherapy than their male counterparts. That is the conclusion of researchers at the Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Surgical Research in Sydney, Australia.  Using the records of 294 peritoneal mesothelioma patients treated at multiple institutions in the past two decades, the researchers set out to measure the impact of gender on overall survival after treatment. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a type of mesothelioma that spreads quickly across the mesothelial lining of the abdomen. Asbestos exposure is its only known cause. Because of the aggressive nature of the disease, mesothelioma is typically treated using a multi-modal approach. The subjects of the Australian study had all been…

Subtype and Stage Affect Mesothelioma Surgery Survival
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Subtype and Stage Affect Mesothelioma Surgery Survival

ByAlex Strauss

Another study of mesothelioma treatments has confirmed that the best candidates for aggressive therapy, including radical surgery, are those patients who are in overall good physical condition and have the epithelial subtype of mesothelioma. The new study followed 40 mesothelioma patients for at least 3 years. The goal was to evaluate what factors had the greatest impact on mesothelioma prognosis.  Each case was analyzed based on epidemiological factors, stage and subtype of mesothelioma, treatment method and complications, and other factors that influence patient survival. Statistics In keeping with the higher rate of mesothelioma in men worldwide, the ratio of men to women in the study was 13 to 1.  The average age of the patients was 55 and more than half of…

Experience Improves Mesothelioma Surgery Outcomes
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Experience Improves Mesothelioma Surgery Outcomes

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma patients who are candidates for surgery will have better outcomes and longer survival if their procedure is done in a specialty treatment center by a surgeon experienced in mesothelioma surgery. That is the conclusion of a team of surgeons in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. The group set out to determine if survival statistics for mesothelioma surgery have improved over the years as doctors have gained more experience treating mesothelioma and adjuvant therapies have advanced. They analyzed the surgical treatments and survival results of 540 consecutive patients with malignant plural mesothelioma. The group was divided into two segments of 270 patients each. The first group was comprised of mesothelioma patients who…

Light-Based Mesothelioma Treatment Shows Promise
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Light-Based Mesothelioma Treatment Shows Promise

ByAlex Strauss

There is more evidence that Photodynamic Therapy may be a valuable adjuvant treatment for people undergoing mesothelioma surgery. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a light-based cancer treatment that uses a sensitizing drug and a light to destroy cancer cells several millimeters into the targeted tissue. Although it is not yet widely used for mesothelioma, PDT is considered particularly suitable for tumors on the mesothelium, which tend to be wide but not very deep. To test the effectiveness of PDT, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the surgical outcomes of 28 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma between 2004 and 2008. The patients were similar in age, sex, stage of disease and histological type of mesothelioma. Eighty-six percent of the patients were…

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…

Handheld PET Scanners May Improve Mesothelioma Surgery
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Handheld PET Scanners May Improve Mesothelioma Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Surgeons from one of the country’s most respected cancer centers say hand-held PET scanners could be a valuable tool for combating deadly mesothelioma cancer. Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York used the new handheld PET technology to pinpoint and remove 17 suspicious lesions in mice during surgery. The mice had been inoculated with mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the tissue that surrounds internal organs. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. Positron Emission Tomography or PET scanning is a nuclear medicine test that is often used, along with MRI and CT scanning, to diagnose, stage and monitor mesothelioma and other cancers. PET scanning can produce detailed 3-dimensional functional images of internal tissues. The machine detects gamma rays…

Surgery, Tumor Grade Have High Impact on Mesothelioma Survival
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Surgery, Tumor Grade Have High Impact on Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

A population based analysis of people with malignant pleural mesothelioma suggests that tumor grade and surgery have the greatest impact on overall survival. The study conducted by researchers in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester in New York analyzed the medical records of 9,701 mesothelioma patients from 1973 to 2006.   Their goal was to examine the variables that affect the overall survival in people with mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Of the 9,701 patients followed, 55 percent were still alive six months after diagnosis.  Thirty-three percent survived for a year and another 5 percent were still living five years after their mesothelioma diagnosis.  Younger patients, women, those with the most common (epithelioid) type of…

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…