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Archive for the ‘Mesothelioma’ Category

Early Detection is Key in Mesothelioma

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

The key to increased life expectancy when battling extremely aggressive cancers like mesothelioma is early detection. Unfortunately, researchers have yet to develop an effective lung cancer screening tool.

While breast cancer has the mammogram and prostate cancer has the PSA, lung cancer does not have an equivalent test for detection. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) identifies chest x-rays, CT scans, PET scans and the bronchoscopy as tests used to diagnose lung cancer, but these tests are only effective after a patient has presented worsening respiratory symptoms.

Patients with mesothelioma often have symptoms such as a persistent cough, shortness of breath, fatigue and wheezing, similar to other respiratory illnesses. Typically, when a patient first exhibits these symptoms, doctors first treat them for a respiratory infection. They only test for cancer later. This leads to a late diagnosis, when the disease is already causing life-threatening complications.

Studies are underway to find an effective lung cancer and mesothelioma screening tool. Some researchers have developed tests to detect circulating tumor cells. Other tests include Cornell’s “glowing dots” that would attach to cancer cells and glow during a PET scan, and an electronic nose to detect mesothelioma in an exhaled breath.

There is hope that someday soon research will catch up with the dire need of future mesothelioma sufferers for early detection.

Cappolino Dodd Krebs, LLP – mesothelioma attorneys

 

Gene Sequencing Allows for Targeted Cancer Treatments

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Genome sequencing may offer mesothelioma sufferers new hope, giving doctors a much better understanding of an individual’s disease profile and allowing for targeted treatments.

The mapping of the human genome is considered by many to be one of the major scientific breakthroughs of all time. Some researchers are taking this new ability and using it in a very specific way: mapping specific diseases. Cancer genomes are showing to be particularly good candidates for such genome sequencing.

According to Barrett Rollins of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, cancer “is among the most promising targets because it is essentially a disease in which damaged genes let cells grow without restraint.”

The cost of gene sequencing has gone down dramatically, and while many insurance companies do not offer coverage for the procedure, the out-of-pocket expense for the average patient is now less than $1,000.

Sequencing cancer genes can give an enormous amount of information to doctors, allowing them to target the treatment to the particular needs of the patient. Without this information, doctors are forced to use treatments that target the way a particular disease functions as a whole, instead of on an individual level. Cancer acts differently in every patient. With the information provided by gene sequencing, doctors can respond accordingly.

Cappolino Dodd Krebs, LLP – mesothelioma lawyers

 

Japanese Researchers Recommend Invasive Procedure

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Japanese researchers are suggesting that the difficulty in diagnosing pleural mesothelioma may require more invasive measures.

For patients who can tolerate the procedure, an operation to remove part of the chest lining may be the best way to diagnose early malignant pleural mesothelioma.

The standard and least invasive diagnostic test when pleural mesothelioma is suspected is pleural effusion cytology. A buildup of fluid between the layers of the pleura, known as pleural effusion, is one of the first clinical signs of mesothelioma. Doctors draw of some of this fluid to test for cancer cells.

The Japanese researchers point out that this method has a level of sensitivity of only about 60 percent. False negatives result in a delay of critical treatments.

In order to get a more reliable diagnoses, they suggest performing a thoracoscopic pleural biopsy. This involves removing a part of the chest lining. Even this, they admit, will sometimes fail to diagnose the disease. When this is the case, they recommend an even more invasive procedure called a total parietal pleurectomy.

This final option involves removing the outside or parietal layer of the pleura. The risk of the operation must be weighed against the risk of untreated mesothelioma. If the patient’s health is strong enough to take the procedure, it could be lifesaving.

Cappolino Dodd Krebs, LLP – mesothelioma attorneys

 

Families of Asbestos Workers at High Risk for Mesothelioma

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

The families of asbestos workers can often be just as susceptible to mesothelioma as the person working with the material. Asbestos dust often travels home on the clothes of workers, making it easy to inhale for the workers’ families. The recent story of eight adult children of an asbestos worker who now have asbestos-related diseases demonstrates how hazardous the material can be.

Kora Leah was a foreman at Cape Asbestos in Hebben Bridge, Yorkshire, England. His children remember how they would play with their father when he returned home from work with his clothes still covered with asbestos dust. “I remember my mother shaking his overalls and dust going everywhere,” Maureen McGough, 73, recalled.

She said that the children would sometimes accompany their father to work and play in the piles of asbestos dust.

Their father died of lung cancer in 1958, 10 years after he left Cape Asbestos. Two of his children have died in recent months of mesothelioma. The remaining siblings all have asbestos related diseases now and are at risk of developing mesothelioma.

The National Cancer Institute reports that there is evidence that family members of workers heavily exposed to asbestos face an increased risk of developing mesothelioma.

Cappolino Dodd Krebs, LLP – mesothelioma lawyers