Asbestos & Mesothelioma Studies
A cancer fighting gel that is applied directly to tumors could help mesothelioma patients. Researchers in Maryland tested the treatment on animals with mesothelioma tumors. The tumors responded even after one application. The gel could be used alone or could be used while doctors are performing surgery on mesothelioma. It could change the future of…
MRI scans could be better than CT scans for diagnosing and monitoring disease response in pleural mesothelioma patients. An Italian study is looking at the two imaging techniques to compare the effectiveness of each one and is publishing results in the online medical journal Cancers. Computed tomography scans (CT) are currently the most popular way…
A study at the Duke University Medical Center has found that radiation does not extend survival in pleural mesothelioma patients. A dual registry analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of aggressive surgery and radiation. Adjuvant radiation is recommended as a treatment by many cancer centers including the U.S. National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the…
Pleural mesothelioma could soon have a new approved treatment option. The Food and Drug Administration just granted orphan drug status to ONCOFID-P for the treatment of the cancer. It is currently being studied for invasive bladder cancer, but data from lab and mice models is showing it could be beneficial for pleural mesothelioma as well.…
Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are experimenting with a combination of CAR-T cell therapy and Keytruda, a PD-1 blocker for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. This is the first time that these two therapies have been combined. The results were recently published in Cancer Discovery. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the…
Doctors could soon pick the best surgery for pleural mesothelioma patients because of a new predictive model created by Harvard researchers. There are different types of mesothelioma surgery: one involves removing a lung while the other leaves the lungs. The best surgery for each individual patient depends on the person’s demographics, symptoms, and lab values.…
A new cancer vaccine was found to be effective in mesothelioma patients alongside Opdivo in a new study. It was studied in people whose cancer no longer responded to standard chemotherapy. The phase I clinical trial took place at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and it involved the galinpepimut-S vaccine, or GPS. Data early…
Pleural effusion may affect mesothelioma survival. Pleural effusion is a buildup of fluid around the lungs that can be caused by multiple illnesses including heart failure, kidney and liver disease, pleural mesothelioma, and other cancers. The only way to treat this condition is to drain the fluid, which makes it easier for patients to breathe.…
Adjuvant radiotherapy might not be the best treatment for mesothelioma sufferers because researchers at Duke and Stanford found that this therapy does not help patients live longer. The researchers analyzed a database of pleural mesothelioma patients at Duke and a national registry of patients. The research looked at the outcomes of patients with radiation after…
A study looking at many patients with pleural mesothelioma found that there is not enough of a survival advantage to support the use of extrapleural pneumonectomy surgery (EPP). The study was done at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. EPP is the most aggressive surgery for mesothelioma and at one point…
