mesothelioma – Thoracic Surgery

Complementary Gift baskets for cancer patients

Readers here know that thoracics.org doesn’t shill for anyone.. We are a proudly independent website with no outside funding (as painful as this is sometimes). But we are happy to share the following information:

The Environment Litigation Group, which is a law firm specializing in lawsuits related to asbestos and other toxic exposures is offering complimentary gift baskets for cancer patients. Asbestos is recognized world-wide as a dangerous cancer causing chemical, and has been banned from use in 67 countries*.

Thoracics.org is posting the information here since this law firm works with many of the people with mesothelioma to assist them to obtain the financial assistance that was promised to them – as part of a huge financial settlement that was set aside for this purpose. In the United States, patients often need legal assistance due to a pattern of aggressive defensive tactics used by multiple corporations to shield themselves from liability. This has been aided by a former president who aimed to please his corporate sponsors.

This is a particularly egregious abuse when you consider that the link between asbestos and disease has been well-known since the 1920’s.

So we are pleased to share this link for complimentary gift baskets for cancer patients. (This is the same firm that offered free face masks during the face mask shortage). And – if they can help someone access the financial resources they are entitled to, all the better..

*It remains in prevalent use in places like India where the are few effective controls to prevent it’s use. This has implications for both Indian workers in the manufacturing sector, as well as consumers – in both domestic and international markets.

Free face masks for cancer patients

Thoracics.org has received a request from a U.S. based law firm that specializes in Environmental Law (asbestos, toxic exposures, and other medical harm). They are offering free face masks for all of our American readers with cancer, or caring for loved ones with cancer, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Environmental Litigation Group (ELG) is based in Birmingham, Alabama.

While we appreciate their generous offer to our readers, this is not an endorsement of their services (which we have no way of evaluating.) Thoracics.org receives no additional financial or other support from this company.

However, on behalf of patients everywhere, we say Thank you.

Link for face masks

Latest research findings: Mesothelioma

new research results from the University of Pennsylvania on the treatment of pleural mesothelioma.

The University of Pennsylvania reports the latest results of a small study involving 28 patients with pleural mesothelioma.

This limited study compared combination treatment using photodynamic therapy along with a lesser lung surgery (14 patients) in comparison to extrapleural pneumonectomy alone (14 patients). 22 of the 28 patients also received chemotherapy.

Patient population: 28 patients – 12 /14 patients in either group with advanced (stage III/IV ) disease

Results: Extrapleural pneumonectomy group had a median survival of 8.9 months. The combination photodynamic/ surgery group median survival exceeded two years (when the study ended).

Take away message for readers: It’s too early, and the study groups are far too small for us to generalize these findings. However, these preliminary results are encouraging and should prompt more, larger scale studies / trials looking at photodynamic therapy as adjuvant therapy along with thoracic surgery for pleural mesothelioma.

Update: 06/15/2011:

the mesothelioma study from PA just got picked up by a major wire service, so expect to read and hear a lot more about it.

Update: 08/15/2014: Mesothelioma.net has asked that I link with their site. They offer some informational services for people facing mesothelioma. Please let me know if this site is spam-plagued or otherwise dubious and I will remove the link (the site is a bit ‘shiny’ and circular for my taste.)

Cytoreductive Surgery with Intraoperative Hyperthermic Intrathoracic Chemotherapy

An introduction to cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy administrative for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Cytoreductive surgery with Intraoperative Hyperthermic Chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been used for over a decade now for abdominal cancers including metastatic colon cancer (peritoneal carcinomatosis) and malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. During this lengthy procedure, surgeons remove as much gross disease as possible, and then infuse heated chemotherapy agents directly into the abdominal cavity to kill any residual cancer cells. One of the benefits of this treatment is that by directly administering chemotherapy to the site of disease – the patient experiences less toxic side effects (versus intravenous or oral ingestion) and higher concentrations can be used, which are more effective at killing the malignant cells. Research findings have been encouraging, and have shown significant improvement in median survival in comparison to standard treatment.

During my research in Bogotá, Colombia – I interviewed a general surgeon who was responsible for establishing a HIPEC treatment program in a local hospital there. (There are less than 25 HIPEC treatment centers in the world.) This spurred my interest in thoracic applications of this procedure (called the Sugarbaker procedure after the inventor, Dr. Paul Sugarbaker, an oncologist.)

In recent years, thoracic surgery has investigated and adopted some of this research for use and treatment of thoracic cancers, in a procedure known as HITHOC. In thoracic surgery, intrathoracic (inside the chest) administration of heated chemotherapy in the operating room has been used primarily to treat malignant thymomas and malignant pleural mesothelioma. Results of recent studies have been mixed – with the best results occurring in patients with thymomas. In patients with mesothelioma, prognosis is dependent on stage.

Rutgers and Bree et. al at the Netherlands Cancer Institute published several additional studies on the subject, looking at the effectiveness of different chemotherapeutic agents for HITHOC. Given their extensive experience and knowledge on the subject, I have contacted the researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute to invite the authors to submit a guest post. (I’d rather all of you hear from the experts!)

Additional References: (links when possible)

1. Dutch study using the Sugarbaker procedure for intrathoracic infusion for pleural thymomas and malignant pleural mesothelioma. Bree et. al (2000) from Chest. Small study with only 14 patients but a nice discussion of the procedure with graphics. Multiple other studies from these authors, as mentioned above.

2. A nice blog that explains the Sugarbaker procedure.

3. Very small Japanese study from 2003 – five patients. Notably, these patients had a different disease process – lung cancer with pleuritic carcinomatosis. 4 out of five patients demonstrated significant longevity after the procedure with no recurrence.