A new study has demonstrated that there may be more value in a little-researched treatment option for mesothelioma patients.

Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) involves the removal of the cancerous lung and the surrounding tissue. The procedure was originally considered by experts to be too risky, with heart attacks, kidney failure, fluid buildup and pulmonary embolisms resulting. There are some sources that claim a 60 percent complication rate associated with the procedure.

A recent study, conducted by researchers from the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Tor Vergata University in Rome, shows that the quality of life improvement from the procedure may be worth it for some patients.

In a study that went from 1997 to 2007, researchers looked at 29 patients who received the treatment. Seventeen of those patients were alive at the one-year mark, with 10 alive at the two-year mark. With a median survival rate of 19.5 months, the results outdid the mesothelioma survival rate average of 12 months. One of the patients died as a direct result of the surgery.

As with many treatments, research suggests that the best results from EPP come for those who discover their mesothelioma earliest.

Cappolino Dodd Krebs LLP – mesothelioma lawyers

A drug that doctors had hoped would be effective as a single agent alternative to chemotherapy for mesothelioma patients has been found to be ineffective.

Vatalanib is an oral medication, classified as an anti-angiogenesis drug. This means it should inhibit the formation of new blood vessels necessary to ‘feed’ a growing tumor. The hope was that because vatalanib had shown promise in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, it would work similarly for mesothelioma.

According to scientist with the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, a research team based at the University of California, a phase II trial of vatalanib found no significant survival benefit among mesothelioma patients as a single agent (administered by itself).

Testing the drug at 19 centers with a total of 47 patients, a single dose was given containing 1250 mg of vatalanib daily. Only six percent of patients showed even a mild response to the drug.

Summarizing their findings recently published in the journal Lung Cancer, the study’s authors said, “Vatalanib as a single agent with this dose and schedule does not warrant further study in this disease (mesothelioma).”

Cappolino Dodd Krebs LLP – mesothelioma lawyers