Study suggests radical surgeries produce better results

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Study suggests radical surgeries produce better resultsObtaining an Upper Estimate of the Survival Benefit Associated with Surgery for Mesothelioma, a recent study which was published in the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, discusses in detail the benefits of radical surgery and multimodality therapy in treatment of malignant mesothelioma.

The study, conducted by M. Utley and colleagues of the University College London, concludes in a general sense that radical surgeries and multimodality treatments, where available, tend to improve patient survival by a substantial margin.

Malignant mesothelioma, or a cancerous tumor of the mesothelial tissue, is a terminal disease which is caused by exposure to toxic asbestos fibers. Asbestos fibers which are accidentally ingested or inhaled become lodged in the mesothelial tissues surrounding the lungs after slipping through the lung tissue itself. The fibers instigate a scarring-like reaction in the mesothelium which can develop into malignant tumors given enough time. Mesothelioma can take anywhere from ten to fifty years to develop after initial exposure, and often presents with vague, general symptoms.

The study headed by M. Utley compared the survival rates of several different sets of patients. Patients who underwent no surgery were compared with those who underwent three separate levels of increasingly radical treatment regimens. The three types of treatment covered in the study were as follows:

    * Thoracotomy: An incision in the chest cut through which to remove a tumor
    * Resection: Affected tissues and / or organs (mesothelium and sometimes lung) are completely removed
    * Multimodality: Affected tissues are removed and the are is treated with a direct application of chemotherapy

The results showed that patients who did not undergo surgery survived a mean of 16.8 months, thoracotomy patients survived a mean of 17.8 months, resection patients survived a mean of 17 months and multimodality patients survived a surprising 32.9 months.

While the results appear to demonstrate that more radical surgeries produce better results, it’s important to know that younger, healthier patients tend to be better candidates for radical treatment, and that those patients are often expected to survive longer to begin with.

“Given the burden of morbidity of resection in the management of pleural mesothelioma,” concluded the researchers, “this most optimistic estimate of the magnitude of any survival benefit should be taken into account in any policy decision, in clinical trial proposals and in strategies adopted by clinical teams.”

SourceSeptember 15, 2010 in General Mesothelioma News | Permalink

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November 2010SunMonTueWedThuFriSat 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930    Recent PostsN.Y.'s high court tosses asbestos suitMesothelioma Cases Rising in the United KingdomDisagreement over the use of surgery to treat mesothelioma patientsAsbestos group wants research not reviewMesothelioma Testing May Predict Cancer Development and Improve Prevention EffortsMesothelioma Treatment Improved with the Addition of Tomudex to Cisplatin TherapyFemale Mesothelioma Patients Live Longer After Surgery Test May Detect MesotheliomaStudy suggests radical surgeries produce better resultsFire at Remington Arms Plant in Connecticut May Reveal Asbestos CategoriesAnti Cancer TreatmentAsbestosAsbestos BillsAsbestos CasesAsbestos CleanupAsbestos CompensationAsbestos DangersAsbestos DeathsAsbestos in the WorkplaceAsbestos SettlementsAsbestos WisconsinColorado MesotheliomaConnecticut AsbestosCrocidolite AsbestosDetecting MesotheliomaErie County AsbestosFight Against CancerFiji AsbestosGeneral Mesothelioma NewsGeorgie AsbestosIllinois AsbestosLegal QuestionsLegal RightsLondon AsbestosMaryland AsbestosMasschusetts AsbestosMesotheliom ResearchMesothelioma AnswersMesothelioma CancerMesothelioma CasesMesothelioma CompensationMesothelioma LawMesothelioma law verdictsMesothelioma LawyerMesothelioma LawyersMesothelioma Legal NewsMesothelioma SettlementsMesothelioma StoriesMesothelioma Treatment OptionsMinnesota Minnesota MesotheliomaMissouri AsbestosNew Jersey MesotheliomaNew York AsbestosOhio ResearchPitsburgh MesotheliomaPreventing MesotheliomaSouth Carolina MesotheliomaTelomerase Gene SequenceTennessee MesotheliomaTexas Mesothelioma AttorneysUK AsbestosUncategorizedUnderstanding MesotheliomaVermont AsbestosVermont Asbestos LawVirginia AsbestosMesothelioma News From Topix.netBlog Created ByLawyers CourtOther Legal BlogsDUI SarasotaKent Washington Personal InjuryRenton Personal InjuryLynnwood Personal InjuryBellevue Personal InjuryEverett Personal Injury LawyerCriminal Tax BlogSecurities Law NewsSacramento DUI LawTax Litigation BlogSearch Engine BlogsExecutive SEO MarketingSearch Engine WatchSearch Engine LowdownGoogle BlogYahoo Search BlogSEARCH MARKETING NEWSSubscribe to this blog's feedAdd me to your TypePad People listOther Legal SitesChicago Medical MalpracticeClearwater DUI AttorneyKirkland Personal Injury LawyerChicago Personal InjuryPolk County Drunk Driving LawyersOrlando DUI Law FirmWashington Auto Accident AttorneysRenton Family LawyersFort Wayne Slip & FallDUI ExpungementDeer Park LawyerChicago LawyersSecurities Arbitration AttorneysMinnesota LawyersPalm Springs DUIChicago AttorneysIllinois Tax AttorneyChicago Securities LawSeattle Car Accident LawyerChicago Illinois AttorneyNew York Construction LawyerChicago Shareholder DisputesCalifornia DUI LawyersIllinois Antitrust LawyersWashington Accident AttorneySeattle Personal InjuryChicago Eminent DomainChicago Corporate LawyersPortland Real Estate LawIowa Injury LawyersChicago Business LawLegal DirectoryChicago Securities LawyerChicago Wills AttorneyChicago Probate LawyersChicago LawyersLegal News FeedsLaw Firm ConsultantChicago Tax LawyersAttorney SEOOther SitesChicago Gutter CleaningHospitality TrainingCredit InsuranceSun ProtectionChicago Career CoachWest Palm Beach BankJackson Hole ContractorsBoston LimousinesSun HatsChicago Web DesignArchivesNovember 2010October 2010September 2010August 2010July 2010June 2010May 2010April 2010March 2010February 2010More...

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Mesothelioma, Fastest growing cancer in Women

No one would guess that the most rapidly increasing cancer in women is mesothelioma. In fact, even experts are astonished by this news. One thought is that the rise is linked to schools built in the 1960s and 70s that may have contained asbestos. However, it is unknown why it is increasing in women and not men. Incidences in men are increasing but not at the same rapid rate as in women. The fact that the ratio has changed suggest that the pattern of exposure has changes. Even though the exposure occurred decades ago this is news to us because it takes the cancer up to 50 years after contact to develop.

Most victims exposed to asbestos had worked in industries associated manual labor in the 1960s including construction and shipyards, jobs that mostly went to men. However, many of the buildings that were built during this time contained asbestos and just with a little exposure mesothelioma can occur. The majority of women suffering from mesothelima don’t even know that they have been exposed.

 The number of men still outnumbers women but the increasing rates in both sexes has changed.

Mesothelioma kills 3,000 people every year in the US but the death rate is not even expected to peak until 2015. Great Britain has the highest incidence of mesothelioma in the world, and the number of deaths increasing. The biggest concern being the rapidly increasing number of females who are dying of this cancer, and there deaths are a result of a low exposure.

To learn more about mesothelioma and you legal options contact LegalView for a free mesothelioma law consultation at 866-9LAW-NOW. Our operators are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 1-866-952-9669. Visit LegalView for more information about finding a potential mesothelioma lawyer and other information about environmental toxins, including asbestos.

Tags: Asbestos, Mesothelioma

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Asbestos & Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Social Security Under Threat From the “Catfood Commission”

If you haven’t heard of the Debt and Deficit Commission, pay attention. You need to know about it, especially if you are over the age of 50 or so, or hope to be that old someday.

The Debt and Deficit Commission was created by President Obama last April to address the problem of growing federal deficits and to suggest ways to get the budget balanced by 2015. The Commission is made up of current and former U.S. senators and representatives of both parties, plus some corporate CEOs, a former director of the Office of Management & Budget, some advisers to past administrations and a former Union president. The co-chairs are Alan Simpson, former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Clinton. The D&DC is supposed to present recommendations to Congress by no later than December 1.

Now, you may be thinking that it’s a good idea someone is looking at the budget. And you may be right. But what has been leaking out of the D&DC is alarming. It appears that at least part of the D&DC is looking to balance the budget by cutting Social Security. Co-chair Simpson also has made noises about cutting benefits to veterans exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.

Social Security may be the most popular U.S. government program of all time. Since its origination in 1935, Americans have  come to depend on Social Security to help them through their retirement years.  This includes many, if not most, people diagnosed with the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, which most often happened on the job. But because the disease takes many years to develop, the diagnosis often comes later in life, when the patient is retired.

The Social Security fund is separate from the federal budget, so the money paid out of the fund doesn’t come out of the budget. Yet co-chairman Simpson and some other members of the D&DC have made it clear they want Social Security on the chopping block. Observers speculate they plan to use the Social Security surplus to pay down the federal deficit so they won’t have to consider raising taxes on the wealthy.

That’s why the Debt and Deficit Commission has been nicknamed the “Catfood Commission” — seniors will have to survive by living on cat food.

The good news is that Congress doesn’t have to accept what the “Catfood Commission” recommends. The bad news is that if Republicans gain control of Congress in the November midterm elections, there’s a good chance it will.

Several Republicans running for Congress, such as Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller, are saying openly that the United States should transition out of the Social Security program. Incredibly, in spite of the recent meltdown in the financial sector, many conservatives still are pushing the idea of investing Social Security money in the stock market.

As I wrote in an earlier post, Social Security is not in crisis, and there are ways it could be made solvent for many decades without cutting benefits, raising the rate of FICA taxes, or postponing the retirement age to 70. So why is anyone even talking about cutting Social Security?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Gene therapy research proves promising

Researchers in Baltimore have made a significant discovery concerning the behavior of mesothelioma in varying patients. Their findings may help them to predict patient responses to the disease, and possibly even control those responses in order to improve survival in those with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.

Peritoneal mesothelioma refers to the formation of cancerous tumors in the mesothelial tissues of the abdominal cavity. Like other forms of mesothelioma, the disease is caused almost exclusively by asbestos fibers and is terminal in the overwhelming majority of cases. Unlike better known forms of the disease such as pleural mesothelioma, or mesothelioma of the lung lining, the mechanism which introduces the asbestos fibers to the area of the tumor is unknown. Some evidence suggests that peritoneal mesothelioma may result from the accidental ingestion of asbestos fibers, whereas pleural mesothelioma results from inhalation of the dangerous materials.

Patients suffering from peritoneal mesothelioma react to the disease in very different ways, a fact which lead researchers to further investigation. According to the Maryland researchers, “There is marked variability in its clinical behavior. Some patients die rapidly, and others survive for many years.”

The researchers believe that the differences in individual responses to the disease may lie in the expression of certain genes which affect the chemical “signals” transmitted to cells. In some patients, these signaling pathways cause cancerous tumors to grow and spread more rapidly, while in other patients the tumors appear to grow far slower. The researchers analyzed forty-one tissue samples from mesothelioma patients, and found that the “signaling chemicals” responsible for RNA production and protein synthesis differed between samples.

In one group the over-expression of certain pathways known as PI3K and the mammalian target of mTOR caused the presence of specific genes associated with a peritoneal mesothelioma survival of around 24 months. In patients where the same pathways and the genes which they are linked to were not present, survival rates were more than twice that time at some 69.5 months. When synthetic means were introduced to inhibit the expression of the PI3K and mTOR pathways, they found that the division and growth of cancerous cells was significantly impeded.

The scientists believed that further research into the significance of specific gene expression in peritoneal malignant mesothelioma patients was warranted. They asserted that the experiments already conducted highlight the importance of analyzing gene expression and further understanding the mechanisms that link these expressions with differing survival rates.

The study concluded: “Targeting the PI3K and mTOR signaling pathways may have significant therapeutic value in patients with MPM.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 1:55 PM and is filed under Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Study reveals factors in mesothelioma survival

A study published last quarter in The American Surgeon provides new insight on some of the factors which may influence peritoneal mesothelioma survival rates. The study was performed by researchers in Sydney, Australia, and included twenty patients treated for the rare cancer at the University of South Wales Department of Surgery between 1997 and 2008.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The cancer attacks the mesothelial lining of the abdominal organs where it caused fluid buildup, tumors, bowel obstruction, and other serious problems. In time, the disease spreads to the organs themselves, causing organ failure and death. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a terminal cancer whose treatments aim at reducing pain and discomfort while increasing quality of life and survival time.

The patients were selected for the study due to the similarity of their disease’s stage, and because each of them received nearly identical treatments. Each patient underwent surgery to remove tumors and malignant tissues, after which they were administered a heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy regimen. The chemotherapy treatment was comprised of two drugs thought to be more effective acting in tandem, cisplatin and doxorubicin, and was applied directly to the site of the removed tumor after being warmed to improve absorption. All but one of the patients recovered from the treatment.

The study consisted of observing the recovery of each patient in light of their distinguishing characteristics in terms of age, gender, lifestyle and more. The average survival was thirty months after surgery, with individual survival rates ranging from as low as four months. The results were certainly interesting, although the researchers were quick to note that they are still preliminary.

Age and gender played important roles in survival, with women surviving an average of three times longer than men after treatment and, unexpectedly, patients under fifty five years old surviving just a third of the time that older patients did. Researchers believed that the women who participated in the study may have been afflicted with less aggressive tumors. They also noted that incidents of cancer in younger patients may indicate the disease was more aggressive in the first place, making it able to overcome a relatively healthy immune system.

Whether or not the patients were smokers had a serious impact on survival as well. Non-smokers, on average, remained relatively free of malignant cell growth for eleven months after surgery, while smokers redeveloped cancerous tissues just four months after their tumors were removed. Cigarette smoking introduces a variety of known carcinogens into the body, which probably accounts for the faster return of malignant cells in some patients.

Drinking alcohol and a history of regular drinking also affected survival rates, with non-drinkers surviving far longer than regular drinkers after initial treatment. The researchers were unsure why drinking alcohol would impact survival and hope to better understand the phenomena after fully analyzing the results of the study.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 7:32 AM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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