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 Triple Therapy Found Safe and Effective
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Mesothelioma Triple Therapy Found Safe and Effective

ByAlex Strauss

An aggressive treatment strategy that begins with chemotherapy, followed by surgery, and then radiation is a safe and effective option for many mesothelioma patients, according to a recent study in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Mesothelioma traditionally hasn’t responded well to just one treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation). In the early 1990s, Dr. David Sugarbaker of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston reported on the use of combining therapies. When he treated mesothelioma patients with extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP—surgery to remove the diseased lung, as well as the diaphragm and the membrane covering the heart and lung), followed by chemotherapy and radiation, the results were promising. Researchers at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, Washington, tried to replicate this triple-treatment…

Mesothelioma and SS1P Therapy – Some Promise
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Mesothelioma and SS1P Therapy – Some Promise

ByAlex Strauss

Delivering a continuous dose of a new immunotoxin therapy, SS1P, is safe and shows some effectiveness against mesothelioma and other mesothelin-positive cancers. However, the drug doesn’t appear to be any more effective when given by continuous infusion than in several intermittent doses, according to a recent study published in the journal, Clinical Cancer Research. Some types of cancer, including mesothelioma, ovarian, and squamous cell cancers, display a protein called mesothelin in larger-than-normal amounts. Researchers are using this unique characteristic to develop new treatments for these cancers. One potential new treatment, called SS1P, is an immunotoxin—an antibody attached to a toxic substance that binds to and kills mesothelin-positive cancer cells like mesothelioma. “SS1P contains an antibody fragment which binds to mesothelin…

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…

Alimta Reportedly Caused Lung Injury
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Alimta Reportedly Caused Lung Injury

ByAlex Strauss

A Japanese medical journal recently reported a case of pemetrexed-induced acute lung injury in a patient with mesothelioma. In the U.S., Alimta is the brand name for pemetrexed. According to this report a 65-year-old man was admitted to the hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. Doctors ordered a chest x-ray which showed that the patient had excess fluid that had accumulated in the left pleural cavity, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. A chest CT scan was ordered which revealed multiple pleural masses on the left side. A needle biopsy removed a specimen from one of the masses and pathology tests were performed on the sample. The diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma was subsequently made. The patient was…

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…

Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma Tested in Greece
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Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma Tested in Greece

ByAlex Strauss

The standard chemotherapy treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma is cisplatin and pemetrexed. Another chemo regimen used in the U.S. and other countries is the combination of cisplatin and gemcitabine. A recent study performed at the Athens University School of Medicine in Greece examined if the chemotherapy combination – gemcitabine plus docetaxel – were more or less effective than the two standard regimens. The reason for the study, according to the authors, was that this combination has not been investigated in mesothelioma before. Gemcitabine (marketed as Gemzar) is used in various cancers including: non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer. Docetaxel (marketed under the name Taxotere) is an anti-mitotic chemotherapy used mainly for the treatment of breast,…

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…