Mesothelioma Blog

British researchers conducted a literature review and meta-analysis of medical studies and found that physical exercise can help improve quality of life during treatment and afterwards. One big complaint of most cancer patients is fatigue. The researchers found “statistically significant improvements in fatigue were identified following an exercise programme.” Story [...]

Jaqueline Lees, a cancer researcher, is in an online video on cancer. It’s quite good, and she is better than most scientists when it comes to talking to the public about technical issues. She explains the development of tumors through several stages, which can potentially take years. This makes sense to anyone who follows mesothelioma [...]

The University of Pennsylvania’s Oncolink website had an article by Carolyn Vachan on dietary supplements, which is often a sore spot with doctors and medical researchers even as they are very popular with the general public. Supplements (vitamins, minerals, etc.) make up a $23 billion industry in the United States, and they are largely unregulated. [...]

The American College of Physicians put out new guidelines for palliative care last week. The suggestions include regular assessment for pain and dyspnea for patients with a serious illness late in life, management of pain through accepted norms, and use of proven therapies to control dyspnea. More on this.

No details, but a report out of Britain about two “first degree” relatives being diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma at more or less the same time. Sad, but a too-often occurance. Asbestos is either in the home or is brought home by someone from the workplace.

The Washington Post reports (via the Los Angeles Times) the passing of Les Skramstad, one of the early leaders notifying the world about the dangers from the Libby Montana vermiculite mine. Skramstad worked there from 1959 to 1962 and was diagnosed with asbestosis in 1996. He subsequently got mesothelioma, which is what he died from. [...]

The Cheerful Oncologist proposes “four freedoms of cancer patients“, modeled after Franklin Roosevelt’s four freedoms. Roosevelt articulated his four freedoms during World War II (although before the United States entered the war). If we adopt the war metaphor - The War on Cancer - the freedoms have all the more resonance. Cheerful [...]