sodium levels

Italian oncologists say an electrolyte imbalance called hyponatraemia could be a valuable way to predict treatment response in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. Hyponatraemia is an abnormally low level of sodium in the blood. It can be caused by a range of factors, from an underlying medical condition to drinking too much water and diluting the blood. In people with mesothelioma, hyponatraemia can also be triggered by chemotherapy. By analyzing the cases of 62 consecutive mesothelioma patients on chemotherapy, researchers with the Marche Polytechnic University in Ancona, Italy determined that those who developed hyponatraemia were less likely to have good outcomes. All patients received pemetrexed-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for their mesothelioma between 2003 and 2013. Twenty-nine of the mesothelioma…