Some Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivors May Have Few Symptoms
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Some Long-Term Mesothelioma Survivors May Have Few Symptoms

ByAlex Strauss

New research shows that some long-term mesothelioma survivors may have few or no symptoms of the disease for years.  The research appears in a recent issue of the journal Clinical Lung Cancer. A team of Finnish doctors wanted to identify the unique characteristics of long-term mesothelioma survivors. They discovered that some of these survivors seem to have an indolent form of asbestos cancer. This suggests that it is possible for a person to live for many years with pleural  mesothelioma and not even know they have it. Typical Mesothelioma Symptoms It is not unusual for mesothelioma patients to have no symptoms in the early stages, but long-term mesothelioma survivors are rare. Once the cancer takes hold, it usually grows quickly. …

Surgery Extends Survival for Patients with Pleural Mesothelioma
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Surgery Extends Survival for Patients with Pleural Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Patients with pleural mesothelioma who choose to have surgery live longer than those who do not. This applies no matter which kind of surgery they have.  That is the conclusion of a Mexican study published in the Annals of Oncology. Doctors with the country’s National Institute for Respiratory Diseases conducted the study. It included 122 pleural mesothelioma patients.  The researchers analyzed a wide range of variables like age, sex, asbestos exposure, and overall health. They discovered that the decision to have surgery was one of the most important survival factors in patients with pleural mesothelioma. Treatment Options for Patients with Pleural Mesothelioma Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with no known cure. It usually occurs in people who have been…

PET/CT for Mesothelioma Diagnosis: Age and Stage May Impact Accuracy
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PET/CT for Mesothelioma Diagnosis: Age and Stage May Impact Accuracy

ByAlex Strauss

A new study of PET/CT for mesothelioma diagnosis shows that certain conditions can impact its accuracy. Test results may be less reliable in older patients and in those with very early stage mesothelioma.  The study comes from cancer researchers in Italy. They compared the accuracy of PET/CT for mesothelioma diagnosis in 141 patients over a 9-year period.  A third of the oldest patients with Stage 1 pleural mesothelioma received false negative results. The figure jumped to 40 percent when age was not considered.  What is PET/CT for Mesothelioma Diagnosis? Positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) are non-invasive methods of looking at internal tissues.  A CT scan takes X-rays from different angles. A computer compiles the images into a…

Pleural Mesothelioma Rates Remain Stagnant As Survival Improves
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Pleural Mesothelioma Rates Remain Stagnant As Survival Improves

ByAlex Strauss

A new report shows pleural mesothelioma rates in the US have failed to decline as they were predicted to do, but survival is improving slightly.  The US government began to implement tighter restrictions on asbestos in the 1970s. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic say original projections had the incidence of pleural mesothelioma peaking in the early 2000s as a result. Pleural mesothelioma rates were supposed to decline after that. But numbers from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) tell a different story. They suggest that, while mesothelioma survival is improving, incidence of asbestos cancer are not. Asbestos and Malignant Mesothelioma Malignant mesothelioma is the most serious of a range of illnesses caused by asbestos. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common type…

HITHOC Treatment Deemed Safe for Some Pleural Mesothelioma Patients
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HITHOC Treatment Deemed Safe for Some Pleural Mesothelioma Patients

ByAlex Strauss

German doctors testing the HITHOC treatment for pleural mesothelioma say it is a “safe therapeutic option”. The key to success is careful patient selection. Pleural mesothelioma is a rare cancer linked to asbestos. Tumors grow on the membrane that surrounds the lungs. Doctors have not yet found a cure for mesothelioma.  HITHOC treatment involves rinsing heated chemotherapy drugs through the chest after mesothelioma surgery. The new study suggests that this advanced approach may help certain mesothelioma patients live longer.  Understanding Pleural Mesothelioma Tumors To understand how HITHOC treatment works, it is important to understand how and where mesothelioma tumors grow.  Pleural mesothelioma tumors start on the lining around the lungs called the pleura. As tumors grow, the pleura thickens and…

Gel-Based Mesothelioma Treatment: A Novel Approach to Pleural Mesothelioma
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Gel-Based Mesothelioma Treatment: A Novel Approach to Pleural Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Swiss scientists are developing a novel gel-based mesothelioma treatment for people with pleural disease. Early studies suggest it may be a safer way to deliver cancer-fighting drugs with fewer side effects. The gel-based mesothelioma treatment combines the chemotherapy drug cisplatin with a natural “glue” called fibrin. When the gel is applied during surgery, it can keep fighting tumors for months. Why Develop a Gel-Based Treatment? Cisplatin is a platinum-based drug. Together with pemetrexed (Alimta), it is one of the most common chemotherapy drugs for mesothelioma. In the past decade, doctors came up with a way to increase the effectiveness of cisplatin in people with peritoneal mesothelioma. These patients get chemotherapy the usual way. But they also get a rinse of…

When Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Occur Together
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When Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Occur Together

ByAlex Strauss

Pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma rarely occur at the same time. But when they do, there is still hope for treatment. That message comes from a new study conducted at Columbia University and published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology. The researchers analyzed cases of patients diagnosed with both pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma at Columbia. They were looking for the factors that impacted their survival and the most effective ways to treat them. Comparing Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma There are two primary types of malignant mesothelioma, the type of cancer most closely associated with asbestos exposure. The most common type is pleural mesothelioma. With this type, the first tumors show up on the membrane that surrounds the lungs (pleura). Chest pain,…

Mesothelioma Growth Slowed by Breast Cancer Drug
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Mesothelioma Growth Slowed by Breast Cancer Drug

ByAlex Strauss

A drug most often associated with the treatment and prevention of breast cancer may offer a new way to treat pleural mesothelioma, too. A new study conducted by Ireland’s Royal College of Surgeons and published in the medical journal Anticancer Research focuses on tamoxifen as a novel mesothelioma therapy. How Tamoxifen Works Tamoxifen helps fight breast cancer and protect high-risk women from getting it by blocking cancer cells from using the estrogen they need to grow. Given that some types of mesothelioma tumors also appear to rely on estrogen to fuel their growth, the Irish scientists theorized that a drug like tamoxifen, which modulates estrogen receptors, could be used to enhance mesothelioma therapy. Testing Tamoxifen on Mesothelioma Cells The researchers…

Trimodal Mesothelioma Treatment May Not Be Worth the Risk
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Trimodal Mesothelioma Treatment May Not Be Worth the Risk

ByAlex Strauss

Japanese researchers say trimodality treatment for mesothelioma that includes chemotherapy, extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), and post-surgical radiation may not be beneficial enough to justify the risk. Pleural mesothelioma is one of the most difficult cancers to treat because it grows quickly and is resistant to most conventional therapies. Most mesothelioma patients have to have a combination of treatments. The question for researchers is, which treatment combination will provide the best mesothelioma survival outcomes. Trimodality Treatment for Mesothelioma In the newest study on trimodality treatment for mesothelioma, the Japanese team enrolled newly-diagnosed pleural mesothelioma patients who had not yet had any treatment. Study participants were given a chemotherapy combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin to shrink their mesothelioma tumors. This was followed by EPP…

Lower-Cost Mesothelioma Drug May Be as Effective as Gold Standard
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Lower-Cost Mesothelioma Drug May Be as Effective as Gold Standard

ByAlex Strauss

A new study suggests that the lower cost chemotherapy drug Gemzar (gemcitabine) combined with a platinum based agent (cisplatin or carboplatin) may be just as effective at treating advanced pleural mesothelioma as the gold standard mesothelioma drug Alimta (pemetrexed) . Doctors in Turkey, a country with one of the world’s highest rates of mesothelioma, tracked 116 mesothelioma patients who were treated with a combination of Alimta and a platinum drug between 1999 and 2012. During the same period, 30 mesothelioma patients received the alternative combination of Gemzar and a platinum drug. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, asbestos exposure, histological subtype, cancer stage or other characteristics.  The mean age of the patients was…