Mesothelioma Blog

Malignant gliomas are an especially difficult type of cancer to treat. Manifesting in the brain or spine, patients diagnosed with this deadly form of cancer have only a 3 percent likelihood of surviving five years or more. Now, a new method for delivering chemotherapy drugs is showing early signs of prolonging survival times among patients [...]

 Pain is an infamously difficult cancer symptom to treat. Even when potent pain relievers are used, waves of pain often flare up and break through the effects of the medication. This type of pain is known as breakthrough pain. Now, doctors and patients have a new tool to help combat breakthrough pain. Recently, the U.S. [...]

Mesothelioma, a cancer that invades the wall lining of the lungs and other internal organs, is a particularly difficult type of cancer to treat. Almost universally related to the inhalation of asbestos particles, treatment of advanced stages of the disease is largely palliative. Palliative health care refers to the focus of relieving symptoms and pain [...]

Stand Up to Cancer, a charity that will provide funding for cancer research is set to launch this summer through a collaboration with major television networks, entertainers and prominent cancer researchers. The initiative will support cancer research by providing money for cancer studies including high-risk high-impact research proposals often not supported by conventional funding sources. [...]

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 here.

A study in the newest issue of The Lancet concluded that adding chemotherapy to other treatments given to mesothelioma patients does not appear to affect survival or quality of life. Patients suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma were separated into three groups. The first was given a weekly injection of vinorelbine while the second was a [...]

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.

Via the National Health Information Center, we see October is both National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Healthy Lung Month. There is no week or month for mesothelioma because it is too rare, but the combination of a cancer and a lung month in October seem like some sort of sign.