Accelerated high dose radiation before surgery created a 65.9 month survival for mesothelioma patients. They were part of a clinical trial in Toronto at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center. The study is named SMART, an acronym for Surgery for Mesothelioma After Radiation Therapy. There were 96 patients who were treated[…]
Surgery
Thoracic Chemotherapy After Surgery Could Help Pleural Mesothelioma Patients Survive Longer
Hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy alongside aggressive therapy (HITHOC) could help extend pleural mesothelioma patient survival. Doctors perform this by circulating a heated high concentration chemotherapy solution in the chest cavity for one hour right after aggressive surgery is performed on a patient. They do this to kill microscopic tumor cells that[…]
Peritoneal Mesothelioma Surgery with More organ Removal Can Help Survival
Mesothelioma surgery that removes more of an organ has been found to extend the survival of patients. It also did not increase the chance of severe complications nor did it change the survival benefits of aggressive surgery on patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. The complex surgery also did not negatively affect[…]
More Peritoneal Mesothelioma Patients Should be Receiving Surgery
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare condition with only 400 cases diagnosed every year. Patients diagnosed with the cancer are not living as long as they could because of the underutilization of surgery. Surgery is only performed on a third of patients even though there are people that would benefit and[…]
Extrapleural Pneumonectomy vs Pleurectomy and Decortication
There are different procedures to help those suffering from mesothelioma, including the extrapleural pneumonectomy and the combination of pleurectomy and decortication. Both procedures have their benefits and drawbacks, but doctors have not tested to see which procedure has a better outcome for patients. Both surgeries remove tumors from the patients’[…]
New Clinical Trial Testing Effectiveness of Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy Before Surgery
Mesothelioma, the cancer of the linings of different organs, but primarily the lungs, has a poor prognosis and survival rate for those who are diagnosed. Since there is no cure, treatments helping to extend people’s lives need to be tested. Clinical trials help doctors find new ways to treat mesothelioma[…]
MicroRNA Could be used to Quickly Diagnose Mesothelioma
Biomarkers are measureable substances that indicate if someone has a disease. Doctors and researchers are able to find different substances within a person’s body and deduce that the person has a specific type of cancer. Researchers have found a relatively new biomarker called microRNA, which could possibly be used to[…]
Potential New Treatment Acts as a Sealant for Pleural Mesothelioma Tumors
Pleural mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos is a rare cancer – only 3,000 cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year – but it is highly aggressive. There is no cure for plural mesothelioma but findings published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery reveal that a new[…]
Mesothelioma Patients Not Receiving Treatment Impacts Guidelines and Overall Survival
A mesothelioma diagnosis can be grim and have life-long impact on the patients and family. The aggressive nature and the late diagnosis of the disease make it difficult to treat. The average life expectancy after initial diagnosis is on average one year, but with treatment – especially multimodality treatments –[…]
Survival Factors for Mesothelioma Highlighted by University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
According to GLOBOCAN 2018 statistics, each year there are 30,443 mesothelioma cases worldwide, and of those 30,443, 25,576 pass away. With close to 85 percent of those diagnosed succumbing to the disease, mesothelioma remains one of the most deadly cancers as there is no cure. However, surviving a mesothelioma diagnosis[…]