WHEN Noel Connors found out both his sons might have been exposed to asbestos he could not sit by and be silent.
The boys attend Mackay West Primary and Mackay North High schools, where children were at risk of being exposed to the fatal substance after asbestos was disturbed.
“I am in a situation where I had to speak up,” Mr Connors said…. Read more…
A new addition to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines™), the NCCN Guidelines for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM), was presented at the NCCN 15th Annual Conference. Lee M. Krug, MD of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and a member of the NCCN Guidelines Panel discussed recommended treatment options for patients with MPM as well as first-line therapy regimens.
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer in which malignant cells are found in the mesothelium, a protective sac that covers most of the body’s internal organs. Pleural mesothelioma refers to the thoracic-based form of the disease, the most common type of mesothelioma.
Although asbestos exposure is a major risk factor for mesothelioma, it can remain latent for more than 20 years and may require a predisposition to the disease. In addition, it can also occur in individuals that previously experienced radiation exposure (e.g. treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma).
Dr. Krug noted that, “Diagnosing mesothelioma is often difficult, because the symptoms are similar to those of a number of other conditions. In addition, a physician’s initial evaluation of a patient may reveal pleural effusion, but it can often be missed on pleural fluid cytology.”
Common symptoms of mesothelioma are shortness or breath or chest pain among others including tumor fevers, sweats, weight loss, and pneumonia.
A surgical biopsy is often required to effectively diagnose a patient with mesothelioma according to Dr. Krug. PET scans can aid in staging as well, detecting unexpected metastases in 10 percent of cases.
Prognostic factors include gender, lymph node status, and histology, but Dr. Krug also pointed to other potential markers that may be indicative of the disease.
“Serum markers may also have prognostic significance as studies show that patients with mesothelioma have higher levels of Soluble Mesothelin-Relation Protein (SMRP) and Osteopontin,” said Dr. Krug.
Like any cancer, treatment for mesothelioma depends on many factors including the stage of the cancer, where the cancer is, and how far the cancer has spread. Dr. Krug described treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation that may benefit patients as described in the NCCN Guidelines for MPM.
Surgical procedures for MPM can range from a pleurectomy/decortication for those patients with early stage disease to more aggressive procedures, such as extrapleural pneumonectomy. Extrapleural pneumonectomy includes the removal of pleura, the lung, diaphragm, and pericardium, but can result in major complications and should only be performed by experienced surgeons.
“The role of aggressive surgery remains controversial,” said Dr. Krug. “As outlined in the Principles for Surgical Resection for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma in the NCCN Guidelines, physicians need to be highly selective when choosing potential candidates for this procedure.”
Surgery alone can be inadequate due to residual disease and a high rate of relapse, so the NCCN Guidelines recommend a combined modality therapy approach for select patients noted Dr. Krug.
The NCCN Guidelines consist of a section detailing the Principles of Radiation Therapy for MPM that stress the need for a multimodality approach including evaluation of the patient by radiation oncologists, surgeons, medical oncologists, diagnostic imaging specialists, and pulmonologists.
“Radiation is recommended as an adjuvant therapy to improve local control after surgery, and it is also an effective palliative treatment for relief of chest pain that is often associated with mesothelioma,” said Dr. Krug…. …. Read more…
ATLANTA – Many Americans with leaky heart valves soon might be able to get them fixed without open-heart surgery. A study showed that a tiny clip implanted through an artery was safer and nearly as effective as surgery, doctors reported Sunday.
The device is already on sale in Europe, and its maker, Abbott Laboratories, hopes to win approval to sell it in the United States next year. Elizabeth Taylor reportedly got one last fall — the 77-year-old actress told fans about it on Twitter.
About 8 million people in the U.S. and Europe have leaky mitral valves — the valve between the heart’s left upper and lower chambers. Not all are so bad they need treatment, but the worst cases can lead to heart failure over time.
In the study, six times more people who had surgery suffered complications during the next month than those who got Abbott’s MitraClip. Deaths, strokes and blood transfusions were less common with the device. The clip was not dramatically less effective than surgery after one year.
Doctors called the study a watershed — the first big test of repairing or replacing heart valves through arteries rather than drastic surgery.
The MitraClip is only for the mitral valve. Other devices for other heart valves are in late-stage testing, and many doctors believe they will transform how these conditions are treated in the near future.
“We have opened the door for a new therapeutic option for patients,” said Dr. Ted Feldman of NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Ill.
He led the new study and gave results Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference. The study was sponsored by Evalve Inc., which developed the device. Evalve was sold last year to North Chicago, Ill.-based Abbott, and Feldman consults for the firm.
Some surgeons were not convinced the device is close to surgery’s effectiveness, and said patients need to be studied for more than one year.
“It’s a partial victory for the device,” Dr. James McClurken, a surgeon at Temple University in Philadelphia, said of the result. McClurken also is the conference chairman.
The study used an outdated method of surgery that minimizes its true benefit, said Dr. J. Scott Millikan, a surgeon at the Billings Clinic in Montana.
“Clearly this is a very exciting technology,” but the study’s leaders “set the bar for success way too low” for the device, he said.
The mitral valve is like a saloon door that opens to let blood flow into the heart’s main pumping chamber. When the flaps of the door don’t swing completely shut, blood flows back into an upper chamber of the heart.
Medicines can ease symptoms but do not keep the valve problem from getting worse. Bad cases are treated with open-heart surgery: Doctors partly stitch the flaps together in the middle, allowing blood to flow on either side but keeping them aligned during each heartbeat….. Read more…
Experts say the prostate cancer blood test has been successful in the fight against the disease, despite the man behind its creation describing it as “hardly more effective than a coin toss”.
In the 1970s, scientist Richard Ablin discovered that elevated levels of an enzyme made by the prostate gland could indicate cancer.
The PSA test was developed as a result.
But Dr Ablin is now describing the test as a “hugely expensive public health disaster”, arguing drug companies and advocates have pushed its overuse, leading to millions of men having unnecessary treatments.
Director of the St Vincent’s prostate cancer clinic Phillip Stricker says the comments are biased but agrees the test does need to be used wisely.
“The last thing you want to be doing is wasting valuable health dollars to pick up early cancers in older men,” he said.
“That’s rule one. And rule two is, not every person who gets diagnosed needs to be treated.”
Dr Stricker says while the test is not the Holy Grail of prostate cancer treatment, it is a useful tool.
“I think it’s helped us diagnose the cancer earlier, it’s helped us save some lives, but it does have to be used intelligently,” he said.
via:au.news.yahoo.com
After forever, I bring tidings of little importance and even little-er interest.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The most commonly used prostate cancer screening procedure, PSA, is at the center of a growing debate after its discoverer said it had become a “hugely expensive public health disaster.”
In a commentary in The New York Times, Richard Ablin of the University of Arizona said the screening tool he discovered four decades ago now costs too much and is ineffective.
The American Cancer Society, which does not recommend theprostate specific antigen (PSA) test — a standard screening for men since the 1990s — has urged doctors to speak to their patients about its risks and its limits.
Prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men worldwide after lung cancer, kills an estimated 254,000 men each year.
The new recommendations were based on preliminary results from two major studies — one led in Europe and the other in the United States — published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine journal.
The clinical trials found that the blood test could not be proved to save lives.
PSA does not allow to distinguish between aggressive cancers that require intervention and slow-developing tumors that, depending on the patient’s age, likely will not be a primary cause of death, according to the American Cancer Society…. Read more…
Proposal for tax payer funded medical service assets tested vouchers for Australian citizens to purchase timely quality medical services up front, with medical loans and/or health insurance from private and public providers.
Watch latest live video of Mesothelioma Symptoms at :- mesothelioma1.notlong.com
Chicago based Asbestos Litigation, Personal Injury Law Firm of Cooney Conway Launches New Website Dedicated to Helping Mesothelioma Victims
Chicago, Illinois (Vocus) March 10, 2010 – Mesothelioma is one of the most severe forms of personal injury a person can endure, as it comes with a great deal of physical, emotional, financial and legal suffering for both the victim and their families.
In an effort to make legal counsel and information more readily available to the public, the leading & National Mesothelioma lawyers of Cooney & Conway have established a mesothelioma answers portal to educate the public. The portal consists of free information on:
• Lung Cancer
• Malignant Mesothelioma
• Causes of Mesothelioma
• Asbestosis
• Peritoneal mesothelioma
• Mesothelioma Lawyer Resource
• Symptoms of Mesothelioma
• Mesothelioma Treatment
• Mesothelioma Prognosis… Read more…
June Hancock lived in the shadow of the J W Roberts asbestos factory at Armley.
For decades it spewed asbestos dust over the community. It closed in the 1950s, but more than 50 years later its activities are still causing deaths.
Mrs Hancock’s mother died of mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lung caused by asbestos. Mrs Hancock then contracted the disease in 1994 and sued the factory’s owners Turner Newall.
* Click here for latest YEP news and sport picture slideshows.
The disease usually kills within 12 to 18 months of diagnosis.
Despite delays by the company’s lawyers Mrs Hancock lived long enough to win her case, opening the doors to compensation for hundreds of victims. She died in 1997. The June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund was established in her memory.
The British Lung Foundation is working with the fund to support new research which could lead to better treatments.
Dr Stefan Marciniak, who heads a research group at the University of Cambridge, has been awarded a two-year grant worth £118,839 for research into mesothelioma…. Read more…
