Mesothelioma begins much like other lung diseases, but it becomes aggressive only in its later stages. Because early detection can make an important difference in how your doctor might treat you, it is critical to determine as early as possible whether a lung disease you have is malignant pleural mesothelioma or not.

Now, in addition to taking a history to determine your exposure to asbestos, doctors have a new way of finding out earlier whether a lung cancer might be mesothelioma as opposed to adenocarcinoma, another type of cancer that can attack in the same place—the lining of the lung—or may attack in other places but then reach into the lungs.  They can send a tissue sample out for a relatively simple test. A company has developed a way to measure certain substances (biomarkers) that can tell the difference between mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma.

This offers hope that similar tests can be developed that will help determine whether, for example, pleurisy symptoms in your lungs and chest are actually from pleurisy or from another disease such as mesothelioma. The simpler and more precise the tests, the better more doctors will understand how to diagnose mesothelioma earlier–and make a difference to the patient’s quality of life and produce more longer-term mesothelioma survivors.

Mesothelioma in all its forms is a highly aggressive form of lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure. Pleural mesothelioma—of the lungs, the most common type—is only slightly less invasive than peritoneal mesothelioma (in the abdomen). So far doctors have found few effective treatments, but they are constantly experimenting as the number of cases of mesothelioma continues to rise.

One drug, pemetrexed (Alimta), when combined with certain others, has been found effective to help slow down the speed with which the disease overwhelms patients. And now researchers are finding that, when combined with tumor removal surgery, pemetrexed may prolong life slightly longer for patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma than it does with pleural mesothelioma. Further studies will be conducted.

Another study recently reported in Germany shows that treatment with a combination of platinum/pemetrexed has significantly increased patient survival times for pleural mesothelioma. Both these studies offer hope that more effective ways to combat this dread disease may soon be found.

If you or someone you love have received a mesothelioma diagnosis, be sure to find the right medical team. And then, call us at 800.44.36353 with questions about your mesothelioma legal rights. We will help you learn if you are eligible to receive compensation.

Researchers are constantly searching for new methods of treating the aggressive asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. Though the disease is relatively rare (a few thousand people in the U.S. each year receive a diagnosis of mesothelioma), doctors haven’t been able to extend victims’ lives very much.

Scientists know that a certain chemical (p21) is often present in large quantities in people with malignant mesothelioma. Studies indicate that this chemical may actually be protecting the growth of the tumors by preventing natural cell death (apoptosis).

The latest study in mice shows that when p21 is suppressed (turned off), it makes a certain combination of anti-cancer drugs (including CPT11) much more effective at reducing tumor size and killing cancer cells. This discovery offers hope that it might be very useful for helping human beings battling this lung cancer mesothelioma.

Photodynamic therapy is recognized as one of the few ways doctors can help relieve the discomfort of malignant pleural mesothelioma, the special type of cancer associated with occupational asbestos exposure.

In a very small clinical trial, doctors found that flooding the patient’s tissues with oxygen (hyperbaric oxygenation) increases the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy at killing the mesothelioma cancer cells and reducing the size of the tumor.

Because it can be fairly precisely aimed at just the tumor tissue, and because with the use of oxygen and a photosensitizer, it is effective at reducing tumor size, photodynamic therapy can help with quality of life for victims of malignant pleural mesothelioma. But for those with advanced cases, new methods are sorely needed for treating this aggressive asbestos cancer and extending life as well.

If you or someone you love receive a mesothelioma diagnosis, be sure to find the best medical team you can. And don’t hesitate to call on us to explain your legal rights. You may have the right to file a mesothelioma lawsuit and receive compensation. 800.443.6353

The current US administration tends to favor the position of industry over workers, and this is especially evident in its current efforts to have the EPA weaken regulations on occupational asbestos exposure and other toxic substances. Many scientists and physicians in the Department of Labor and other agencies say they have not been given a chance to review the proposed changes, according to this story on www.seattlepi.com.

The argument that some types of asbestos are less dangerous than others has been gone over many times. Studies can be cited on both sides. The study that finds some type, like chrysotile asbestos, is not dangerous is usually commissioned by agents of companies who have exposed their workers to it and are vulnerable to mesothelioma and other lawsuits. The studies that say all types of asbestos are a danger to human health are generally conducted by independent scientists and researchers who have no conflict of interest.

Meet someone who has asbestosis or mesothelioma from working in an asbestos-contaminated environment, and you will know who to believe.

Doctors have found a way to possibly improve patient quality of life when they use high heat to deliver chemotherapy directly into the tumor areas of patients with abdominal peritoneal mesothelioma.

The idea is that heat may enhance the ability of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells. They have not had much success treating cases of primary peritoneal mesothelioma with traditional chemotherapy.

In a very small study, patients first had their tumors partially removed, then they received chemotherapy through an infusion catheter for 4 months. Then doctors removed what was left of the tumor and gave high-doses of heated chemotherapy. The procedure did not cause any related complications and offers hope for finding additional ways to treat this aggressive and lung cancer caused mainly by occupational asbestos exposure.

Back in the 1930s, a huge deposit of crocidolite was discovered in Wittenoom Gorge in Australia. A large mining operation was set up in the 1940s, and hundreds of workers were employed to dig up and bring out this deadly substance, also known as blue asbestos.

Of course the workers had no idea they were working with a material that would damage their lungs sooner or later, and would kill many of them years afterwards. A recent study shows nearly 250 Wittenoom miners have died of pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma, the fatal disease caused only by exposure to asbestos. And crocidolite is the most lethal  form of asbestos known.

Some of the victims were not even miners themselves. One man was a child living in the town at the time the mine was most active. He died of mesothelioma in 2001.

The Australian government took action some time ago to limit/decrease the amount of compensation that would have to be paid to families of mesothelioma victims, but there’s a move now to return awards to previous levels. The Asbestos Diseases Society (ADS) of Australia supports the amendment to change the law and is pushing to make sure the amendment gets backdated. That way, the 30 families who finished their cases already “will be able to claim up to an extra $160,000.”

In the search for justice for mesothelioma victims and their families, legal setbacks can occur. But when you’re in the hands of an experienced mesothelioma lawyer, you increase your chances of successfully receiving fair compensation. If you or someone you love has pleural malignant mesothelioma or any other type, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 800.443.6353. We are happy to help you understand your legal rights.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing the air for asbestos and monitoring particle emissions pollution after Iowa cities were hit hard by floods recently.

The EPA sends representatives to test air quality by putting monitoring equipment at strategic positions around the areas damaged by the floods. The first cities that are being tested include Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Fort Madison, Iowa City, Keokuk, Montrose, Parkersburg, and Waterloo and Louisa County.

The reason for concern after a flood is that while crews are cleaning up the damage, they may be demolishing remains of homes and other buildings to clear the debris completely. There is no way to know ahead of time if a building contains asbestos or other potentially harmful substances, and destroying it by any means will definitely release whatever particles are in the structure. EPA demolition experts work as long as they’re needed, even 7 days a week if needed, to get their measurements during the days and times when the dust and particles are at their highest levels.

The EPA posts online reports of the results it gets when testing for asbestos and getting particulate counts. For results from the Iowa flood areas, check out the EPA Region 7 website.  

What remains to be seen is what will be done about it if the reports show a lot of loose asbestos. Residents as well as workers will be being exposed to asbestos, a substance that causes lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, the deadly lung disease that produces symptoms much like pleurisy but is always fatal.

Don’t hesitate to find a doctor who understands the dangers of asbestos exposure if you belive you were exposed at any time and are feeling symptoms. And if you’ve already been diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact us for help understanding your legal rights.

A new clinical trial recently started recruiting patients to test targeted radiation and chemotherapy as a way to treat malignant pleural mesothelioma, a lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.  A current standard treatment is to remove the patient’s lung—a choice that comes with difficult consequences.

Researchers at At the Mesothelioma Center within the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center say that current efforts using radiation and chemotherapy have not been successful in giving patients a longer survival time.

The advantage of the new approach is that it sends radiation and chemotherapy directly to the lining of the lung, thus avoiding the toxic side effects patients typically experience when getting chemotherapy throughout their system. 

The hope is that radiation pointed directly at cancer cells on the surface of the lung will save other parts of the lung and other organs at the same time it gives patients a better quality of life. If you have mesothelioma and are age 18 or older, you have not had recent radiation or chemotherapy, and you have not received prior Alimta chemotherapy, you may be eligible for the current study. If you believe you or someone you know qualifies, contact Dr. Robert Taub, Dr. Joshua Sonett or study coordinator Lilian Batista at (212) 305-6837.

Unbelievable. The cost of properly disposing of asbestos can be high. But for a hospital to deliberately ignore safety precautions and expose its employees, patients, and their families to loose asbestos dust seems incredible, no matter what the motivation.

And yet that’s exactly what the Niagara Falls hospital did—and the courts have said it  will have to pay a $100,000 fine. It would be interesting to find out how much the hospital saved in construction costs by not educating, training and equipping the workers to remove the asbestos safely in the first place. Does it come out even? Or does the fine cost them more than the proper procedure would have cost?

But the costs to those employees are impossible to calculate when 40 or 50 years from now some of them or their family members are diagnosed with asbestosis or mesothelioma. That’s when the hospital’s bottom line could start to hurt a lot more—when those victims file to claim their legal rights. Read more to learn how the legal process works for a mesothelioma cancer lawsuit.