Mesothelioma Cancer Resources Blog

Source: CD200: A Putative Therapeutic Target in Cancer One of the most exciting developments in cancer research is the increasing knowledge we have of the biological and biochemical processes involved in tumor development. Scientists are still years away from fully mapping the structural components of tumors, but they have successfully identified a number of proteins …

Source: Nakas A, et al., The role of video assisted thoracoscopic pleurectomy/decortication in the therapeutic management of malignant pleural mesothelioma, Eur J Cardiothorac Surg (2007), doi:10.1016/j.ejcts.2007.09.039 Mesothelioma is among the most difficult cancers to treat effectively and no true cure exists for this asbestos-caused disease. However, there is an active and creative research community regularly …

Source: New York Times The New York Times is running an article on one of the most cutting-edge—and most expensive—cancer treatments: proton beam therapy. Hospitals are using particle accelerators, which are machines that accelerate subatomic particles to speeds nearly that of the speed of light, to shoot protons directly into tumors. Proponents of this therapy, …

Source: Australasian Radiology One of the most difficult aspects of treating cancer is the distinct number of forms it can take. While most cancers follow particular biological patterns, the literature is full of examples that do not follow these general trends. For example, in patients who present with a number of different tumors, metastasis is …

Source: New York Times The New York Times has published an article on one of the most contentious issues in current cancer research: are there specific stem cells that cause cancer, and if so, can treatments be developed that target these stem cells? The basic hypothesis says there are certain types of cells that are …

Source: Cancer Biomarkers Soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRP) is a protein that has been identified as a potential tumor marker for malignant mesothelioma. A tumor marker is a substance produced by cancerous tissues that can be used to diagnose the existence of a malignant event, as well as to indicate the current state of the cancer. …

Source: Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal’s health section is running an article on cancer patients and their families who are developing personalized drug combinations as a means of fighting their cancers. The article profiles the struggles of Neil Hutchinson, a forty-five year-old defense contractor, to save the life of his seven year-old son …

Source: Minnesota Department of Health 58 taconite miners who worked in Minnesota’s Iron Range from the 1930s through the 1980s have been diagnosed with mesothelioma—a figure much higher than would be expected—as taconite is not considered as carcinogenic a mineral as asbestos is and whose relationship to mesothelioma is even more nebulous. In response to …

Source: Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery There are two primary surgical methods used in the treatment of mesothelioma: pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) and extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). In a pleurectomy/decortication, the parietal pleura, visceral pleura, mediastinal pleura, pericardium and diaphragm are removed, leaving the lung as as intact as possible. An EPP involves a complete resection of the …

Source: Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Asbestos is a term that covers a number of different mineral fibers. While they all share many similar properties and attributes, each fiber is individually distinct from the others in very particular ways, including shape, width and length. It has been known for decades that asbestos is carcinogenic and is …