Large Study Finds Treatment Combination Leads to Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival
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Large Study Finds Treatment Combination Leads to Long-Term Mesothelioma Survival

ByAlex Strauss

There is more evidence that surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy can lead to long-term mesothelioma survival. The news comes from an Australian study of more than 1,200 cancer patients. The study finds that one in five peritoneal mesothelioma patients who had this treatment combination were still alive 10 years later.  Peritoneal Cancer Survival with Surgery  Peritoneal cancers occur on the lining of the abdomen. Peritoneal mesothelioma starts on this peritoneal membrane. Some other peritoneal cancers start elsewhere in the body and spread to the peritoneum. The new Australian study analyzed the cases of peritoneal cancer patients who had cytoreductive surgery between 1996 and 2018. Cytoreductive surgery aims to remove as much of the cancer as possible. Past studies have found that…

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…

Shorter Mesothelioma Survival Again Linked to Higher PD-L1 Levels
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Shorter Mesothelioma Survival Again Linked to Higher PD-L1 Levels

ByAlex Strauss

Patients with the rarest mesothelioma subtypes tend to experience shorter mesothelioma survival. Now, new mesothelioma research suggests that may have something to do with a protein called PD-L1. French researchers studied the PD-L1 levels in the tumors of 214 mesothelioma patients. They compared the levels with each patient’s subtype and their treatment outcome.  The results may help explain cases of shorter mesothelioma survival, especially among patients with sarcomatoid or biphasic mesothelioma subtypes.  PD-L1 Levels and Shorter Mesothelioma Survival Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is one of the proteins that helps mesothelioma cells and other cancers “hide” from the immune system.  Normally, the immune system finds and destroys renegade cells. But if a patient’s mesothelioma tumor expresses higher amount of PD-L1,…

Mesothelioma Survival Rates Have Remained Flat for Decades
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Mesothelioma Survival Rates Have Remained Flat for Decades

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma survival rates have stayed steady for decades, even though treatments are improving. According to more than 25 years worth of data from the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank, people with malignant mesothelioma live a median of 15 months. That number has changed little since 1990. Charting Mesothelioma Patients Over Time Researchers from several major US cancer centers compiled the new report. The goal was to chart mesothelioma survival rates over time and identify factors that impact them. The group evaluated mesothelioma survival rates from 888 cases of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma in the NMVB. The NMVB houses information on more than 1400 mesothelioma cases diagnosed between 1990 and 2017. Overall mesothelioma survival rates stayed right around 15 months. But there…

Mesothelioma Quality of Life Improves After Surgery
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Mesothelioma Quality of Life Improves After Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

New research confirms that surgery followed by HIPEC improves mesothelioma quality of life for people with peritoneal disease. Every mesothelioma surgery carries risks and can cause serious side effects. These problems often have a negative impact on mesothelioma quality of life in the short term. But researchers at Wake Forest University say cytoreductive surgery followed by intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) boosts life quality for most mesothelioma patients over time. Evolving Management of Peritoneal Mesothelioma Malignant mesothelioma is a fast-growing cancer with a very low cure rate. Peritoneal mesothelioma accounts for about a fifth of all mesothelioma cases. With peritoneal mesothelioma, tumors start on the membrane that surrounds the abdominal organs and can spread to other parts of the body. Fatigue, pain,…

Post-Surgery Mesothelioma Treatment: Key to Survival for Elderly Patients?
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Post-Surgery Mesothelioma Treatment: Key to Survival for Elderly Patients?

ByAlex Strauss

Ability to tolerate post-surgery mesothelioma treatment is one of the most important survival factors for elderly mesothelioma patients. That is according to a new article in the Annals of Surgical Oncology. The article says surgery alone will not help older mesothelioma patients live longer. It says they need post-surgery mesothelioma treatments like chemotherapy to get the survival benefits of surgery. But, as a recent mesothelioma study demonstrated, surgery can weaken some older patients. These patients may then be too fragile to have other treatments that could extend their lives. Few Older Patients Have Post-Surgery Mesothelioma Treatment As Surviving Mesothelioma recently reported, many mesothelioma patients over 80 get no treatment at all. In more than 60 percent of cases, mesothelioma doctors…

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,…

Chemoimmunotherapy Called “Next Frontier” for Mesothelioma Cancer
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Chemoimmunotherapy Called “Next Frontier” for Mesothelioma Cancer

ByAlex Strauss

Mesothelioma researchers in Australia are calling the combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy the “next frontier” in the treatment of mesothelioma cancer. In a study published in the journal Expert Opinions in Biological Therapy, the researchers reviewed past clinical trials on mesothelioma immunotherapy. They focused on studies published between 2016 and 2018. Their goal was to get a clearer picture of just how effective these drugs are and how they might be used in combination with other treatments. Chemotherapy for Mesothelioma Cancer Currently, immunotherapy is not the primary treatment for mesothelioma cancer. Instead, most patients have chemotherapy, which is considered the gold standard treatment. For the past 15 years, Alimta has been the main chemotherapy drug for people with malignant mesothelioma….

Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma Doubles Survival in New Study
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Radiotherapy for Mesothelioma Doubles Survival in New Study

ByAlex Strauss

Italian researchers presenting at an international conference this week say the right kind of radiotherapy for mesothelioma can dramatically boost survival. Radiation oncologist Marco Trovo and his colleagues at the University Hospital of Udine conducted the new mesothelioma research. They studied 108 pleural mesothelioma patients whose tumors could not be completely removed with surgery. Pleural mesothelioma affects the membrane around the lungs and is usually fatal within a year. But in the new study, more than half of the patients who had high doses of targeted radiotherapy in just the right area were still alive two years later. In contrast, just over a quarter of the patients who had palliative radiotherapy for mesothelioma lived to two years. Curative Versus Palliative…

Many Elderly Mesothelioma Patients Get No Treatment
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Many Elderly Mesothelioma Patients Get No Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

The majority of elderly mesothelioma patients are observed rather than treated and this can have a negative impact on their survival. That is the finding of a new study published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology. The study included more than 4,500 mesothelioma patients. Less than a quarter of these patients received any treatment for their mesothelioma. As a result, most of these patients lived less than six months. Treatment Options for Elderly Mesothelioma Patients Exposure to asbestos causes pleural mesothelioma. It can take decades after exposure for mesothelioma symptoms to occur. The median age for a malignant pleural mesothelioma diagnosis is 72. The older a patient is at diagnosis, the more likely they are to have other health problems….