Pleurodesis for Mesothelioma: Hard to Predict Success
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Pleurodesis for Mesothelioma: Hard to Predict Success

ByAlex Strauss

Pleurodesis is a procedure often used to help relieve some of the symptoms of pleural mesothelioma, but there is still no way to predict how effective it will be in any individual patient. That is the conclusion of Australian researchers who performed a retrospective study on 390 mesothelioma patients enrolled in the Western Australian Mesothelioma Registry over 5 years. Just over 42% of those patients underwent pleurodesis. The procedure is used to reduce pleural effusions, the buildup of fluid between the layers of lung lining that can cause shortness of breath, cough, and chest pain. Pleurodesis for mesothelioma can be performed either surgically or chemically. Surgical pleurodesis involves mechanically irritating the parietal pleura, causing it to swell and adhere to the visceral…

Implantable Catheter May Provide Mesothelioma Symptom Relief
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Implantable Catheter May Provide Mesothelioma Symptom Relief

ByAlex Strauss

An implantable catheter that allows cancer patients to drain their own excess lung fluid at home may improve quality of life for some mesothelioma patients. A company-sponsored study of the PleurX drainage system conducted in Germany and published in a German medical journal, suggests that the system may be especially beneficial for late-stage mesothelioma patients. Pleural mesothelioma is a malignancy of the pleural lining which surrounds the lungs. In its later stages, mesothelioma often results in pleural effusions, or a build-up of fluid in the space between the inner and outer parts of the pleura. The problem is also common in the later stages of lung cancer and breast cancer. Pleural effusions limit the ability of the lungs to expand, resulting in…

Study Demonstrates Mesothelioma Risk from Shipbuilding
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Study Demonstrates Mesothelioma Risk from Shipbuilding

ByAlex Strauss

There’s more evidence of the dangers of shipbuilding in the early 20th century.  A new study out of Italy found a “high incidence of mesothelioma” among men who worked as shipbuilders in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s in Monfalcone. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of internal membranes caused by exposure to asbestos. In order to track the incidence of the disease among Italian shipbuilders, a pair of researchers from Italy’s Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer examined the hiring records of the Monfalcone shipyard in 1942 and compared them with archived health records in the area’s hospitals decades later. A total of 2,776 people were hired to work in the Monfalcone shipyards in 1942. According to the Pathological Anatomy Unit archives…

Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival Possible with Tri-Modal Approach
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Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival Possible with Tri-Modal Approach

ByAlex Strauss

The case of a Peruvian woman treated for mesothelioma in Italy is more evidence that this rare cancer is not only increasingly treatable, but can even be survivable. Mesothelioma is an aggressive malignancy that spreads across the thin membranes that encase internal organs.  The most common type occurs in the pleura, the lining around the lungs. In most cases, the prognosis is poor; many patients are told they are unlikely to live out the year. But as treatment protocols improve, a growing number of mesothelioma patients are defying the odds and living much longer. A tri-modal approach including chemotherapy to shrink the mesothelioma, surgery to remove it, and radiotherapy to prevent its return has proven to be an effective strategy for…

Both Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Connected to Asbestos
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Both Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Connected to Asbestos

ByAlex Strauss

Italy has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world and according to two new studies, mesothelioma rates are a “suitable indicator” of asbestos exposure for both peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos has long been known to be the cause of mesothelioma.  Italian researchers have highlighted this association by analyzing Italian mesothelioma data from 1995-2002.  They discovered that the annual mortality rate was 1.9 per 100,000. Significant mesothelioma clusters were found in the industries often associated with asbestos exposure, including: asbestos-cement industries, shipyards, oil refineries and petrochemical industries.  The authors concluded that their study “confirms malignant pleural neoplasms mortality as a suitable indicator of asbestos exposure at geographic level.” In a related study, Italian researchers examined the relationship between…

Potential Mesothelioma Therapy in a Spice
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Potential Mesothelioma Therapy in a Spice

ByAlex Strauss

The major component in the spice turmeric may help treat drug resistant pleural mesothelioma. Researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit have been studying the effects of the compound, known as curcumin, on mesothelioma cells in the laboratory and in animal subjects. Their research suggests that curcumin has the power to attack mesothelioma from several angles. Pleural mesothelioma is an asbestos-related malignancy of the mesothelial tissue surrounding the lungs. It is aggressive and notoriously difficult to treat. The platinum-based chemotherapy drugs often used as a first-line treatment for mesothelioma may be ineffective if the patient has a strain of the disease that is resistant to them. So far, there is no proven alternative drug therapy for these patients. Now, the…

IMRT Multimodality Therapy for Mesothelioma Appears Safe
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IMRT Multimodality Therapy for Mesothelioma Appears Safe

ByAlex Strauss

Pleural mesothelioma, a malignancy of the lung lining caused by breathing asbestos, is notoriously difficult to treat. While they can improve quality of life, traditional cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, radiation and surgical intervention have not been shown to improve survival rates in most mesothelioma patients beyond a few months. Researchers around the world are experimenting with advanced treatment options that may give mesothelioma patients new hope. A new study on Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) as part of a multi-modality treatment protocol appears to show improved safety over earlier studies that incorporated the same technology. IMRT is an advanced method of radiotherapy that uses a linear accelerator to deliver precise high doses of radiation directly into a tumor. One of…

Mesothelioma and Chemotherapy
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Mesothelioma and Chemotherapy

ByAlex Strauss

Adding a second round of chemotherapy with the drug pemetrexed can slow cancer progression in patients with pleural mesothelioma, according to a recent study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Malignant pleural mesothelioma, which affects the lining of the lungs (pleura), is one of the toughest cancers for doctors to combat. “The tumor itself is the challenge, as it is practically incurable and hardly treatable,” says Jacek Jassem, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Gdansk in Poland. Surgery isn’t appropriate for most patients, and radiation has limited effectiveness. One of the most effective treatments discovered so far is the combination of an anti-metabolite (a class of chemotherapy drugs that interfere with DNA production to halt tumor…

Pleural Mesothelioma and Surgery
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Pleural Mesothelioma and Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

In a 2006 article*, thoracic surgeon David J. Sugarbaker, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital stated that the goal of surgery for pleural mesothelioma should always be the complete removal of all tumor tissue visible to the naked eye. A complex disease, an ongoing debate “Because mesothelioma can take on many forms and involve different parts of the lung, people have been comparing apples and oranges for many years” when weighing the pros and cons of surgeries for the disease, says Sugarbaker. “We’re used to asking, ‘Do we perform a more extensive procedure or a more conservative one?’ when it comes to surgery, but that debate doesn’t apply as much to mesothelioma,” he says. “The goal should always be to…