Predicting Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery
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Predicting Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival After Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Most mesothelioma  patients and their families have heard the poor survival statistics associated with this aggressive cancer. But two new studies on two different types of mesothelioma suggest that long term survival is possible with surgery and can even be predictable. The first study was a multi-center analysis conducted in Italy between 2000 and 2010. Researchers retrospectively reviewed the cases of 468 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy – a radical surgery that involves removing the diseased pleural lining as well as the closest lung. Since most pleural mesothelioma patients die within a year of diagnosis, the research team classified those who lived three years or longer as “long term survivors.” A total of 107 mesothelioma patients (22.9%) fell into…

Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women
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Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women

ByAlex Strauss

There’s evidence that female sex hormones may help explain the better survival rates in women with peritoneal mesothelioma. The news could open the door for a new way to treat the disease. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma that attacks the membrane around abdominal organs. Like most forms of mesothelioma, it is believed to be caused by asbestos and carries a poor prognosis. In addition to being less likely to contract mesothelioma than their male counterparts, women are also less likely to die from it quickly. Now, researchers at St. George Hospital in Sydney, Australia think they may know why. The team analyzed data on 52 consecutive peritoneal mesothelioma patients treated with cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy…

Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival May Depend on Cancer Location

Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival May Depend on Cancer Location

ByAlex Strauss

Doctors in Greece believe they have found a more effective way to predict prognosis and perhaps extend the lives of people with peritoneal mesothelioma and other cancers affecting the peritoneum. It is based around a system than maps the location of cancer within the abdomen. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of one of the rarest cancers. Caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure, peritoneal mesothelioma starts on the lining that surrounds the abdominal organs. A combination treatment of surgery followed by a wash of heated chemotherapy (HIPEC) through the abdomen is considered the gold standard therapy. Now, surgical oncologist John Spiliotis of the Metaxa Cancer Hospital in Piraeus, Greece along with colleagues in Greece and the US say the location…

Surgery Remains “Cornerstone” of Mesothelioma Treatment
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Surgery Remains “Cornerstone” of Mesothelioma Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

A major new study of more than 14,000 mesothelioma patients diagnosed between 1973 and 2009 finds that surgery appears to have a greater impact on survival than any other form of mesothelioma treatment. Researchers with Mount Sinai Medical Center, North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System, and Hofstra School of Medicine in New York analyzed data from SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results), a large national database of cancer patients. Only patients with confirmed malignant pleural mesothelioma were included in the study. The researchers divided 14,228 mesothelioma cases by age, sex race, diagnosis year, stage, cancer-directed surgery, radiation and other factors to determine which ones appear to have the most influence on mesothelioma survival. When compared to having no treatment, cancer-directed…

Light-Based Therapy Extends Mesothelioma Survival
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Light-Based Therapy Extends Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

The newest research on photodynamic therapy appears to confirm what multiple recent studies have found – that PDT is a safe and effective way to prolong survival in pleural mesothelioma patients after surgery. A new meta-analysis of 16 studies on PDT for mesothelioma finds that the technique efficiently kills mesothelioma cells left behind after lung-sparing pleurectomy. For each of the studies, the French research team analyzed the specific PDT technique used, the level of toxicity, and the effect on survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. “After two decades of clinical studies, intrapleural photodynamic therapy after surgical resection became a safe treatment that significantly improved the survival of patients,” reports lead researcher Camille Munck of Inserm in Loos, France. Mesothelioma…

UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival
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UK Study Finds Location Influences Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

An analysis of the largest ever study group of mesothelioma patients suggests that survival may depend largely on how much experience a patient’s local hospital has with the disease. The study was conducted at six different hospitals or universities in England and included 8,740 mesothelioma patients whose data was collected for the UK National Lung Cancer Audit. The group represented about 80 percent of the total mesothelioma cases in the region between 2008 and 2012. Most of the patients (83%) were men and their median age was 73. The researchers found significant differences in the way mesothelioma cases were handled in different parts of the country. These differences appeared to have an impact on mesothelioma outcomes. For instance, while performance…

Lung-Sparing Mesothelioma Surgery Results in Fewer Short-Term Deaths
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Lung-Sparing Mesothelioma Surgery Results in Fewer Short-Term Deaths

ByAlex Strauss

Extrapleural pneumonectomy is the more radical of the two surgeries and involves the removal of a lung along with the diseased pleural lining where mesothelioma tumors start, all or part of the diaphragm, the lining around the heart, and other at-risk tissues. While the complication rate is higher with EPP, some studies have suggested that the surgery may improve the odds of surviving mesothelioma. Pleurectomy/decortication involves the removal of the pleura and many of the same tissues, but leaves the lungs intact. Studies suggest that patients tend to recover from this type of surgery faster. Both types of procedures may be preceded or followed by chemotherapy or radiation to shrink mesothelioma tumors for easier removal or to kill residual cancer cells. Doctors…

BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival
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BAP1 Mutation May Bode Well for Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

A new study has some good news and some bad news for people who carry the BAP1 genetic mutation. The bad news is that they have a significantly higher risk of contracting malignant mesothelioma and several other types of cancer than people without this genetic mutation. The good news is that, people with the BAP1 mutation who do get mesothelioma, have a seven-fold increase in long-term survival over mesothelioma patients without this genetic anomaly.   Now, a multicenter study involving the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute-Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, the Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine in New York, and the New York University Langone Medical Center finds that BAP1 mesothelioma may actually be more survivable….

Alimta May Extend Mesothelioma Survival as a Maintenance Therapy
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Alimta May Extend Mesothelioma Survival as a Maintenance Therapy

ByAlex Strauss

T Scientists in Japan have just published details of a case they say could be pivotal to the treatment of intractable malignant pleural mesothelioma. Pleural mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to asbestos and starts in the membrane around the lungs. Although there is no cure for mesothelioma, a chemotherapy combination of the platinum drug cisplatin and the anti-folate pemetrexed is considered to be the gold standard drug therapy. Unfortunately, many patients cannot tolerate high doses of cisplatin because of the danger of liver damage. But respiratory medicine specialists at Uji Tokushukai Medical Center in Japan say this problem may be tackled for some mesothelioma patients by continuing to give them pemetrexed. Dr. Takayuki Takeda and his team report the…

Orphan Drug Improves Mesothelioma Survival in Phase II Trial
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Orphan Drug Improves Mesothelioma Survival in Phase II Trial

ByAlex Strauss

T. Researchers with the National Cancer Institute report that, when administered along with the traditional chemotherapy, amatuximab appears to be able to enhance the effectiveness of treatment and extend survival. Amatuximab is a monoclonal antibody that targets the glycoprotein mesothelin. Many types of cancer overexpress this protein, including pleural mesothelioma. Studies have found that mesothelin plays a role in cell adhesion which allows tumors to take hold and ‘seed’ new tumors in other parts of the body. By binding to the mesothelin on the surface of mesothelioma cells, amatuximab prevents this adhesion and triggers an immune response against tumors. It was granted orphan drug status in the U.S. in 2012 for its potential to improve mesothelioma treatment. It received the…