Mesothelioma Empowerment Update - June 17, 2011

International Panel of Medical Specialists Convene for First-Ever Medical Symposium Dedicated to Lung-Sparing Therapies for Patients With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

David Waller, MD and Tom Treasure, MD

The UCLA Mesothelioma Research Program, in conjunction with the Pacific Meso Center, held the 1st International Symposium on Lung-Sparing Therapies for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma on May 21 in Santa Monica, California. The Law Office of Roger Worthington was proud to co-sponsor this first-ever medical seminar focusing on treatment options for patients with pleural mesothelioma.

In recent years, a growing number of the world's top mesothelioma experts have questioned the value of a radical surgical procedure known as extrapleural pneumonectomy, or EPP, which involves removal of the pleura-based tumor along with the adjacent lung, lymph nodes, portions of the pericardium and the diaphragm. Despite a 60 percent complication rate, the radical surgery continues to be advocated by a number of leading mesothelioma specialists, including Dr. David Sugarbaker of Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. More...

"Ored to Death" - The Daily Show Takes on the Canadian Asbestos Industry

In a recent blog we addressed efforts on the part of mining interests, with support from the Canadian government, to re-open the world's largest asbestos mine in the city of Asbestos, Quebec. Although the sale of asbestos is prohibited in Canada, the consortium plans to sell the deadly fiber to India and other developing countries  

This story also caught the attention of Comedy Central Network's "Daily Show", hosted by Jon Stewart. In this segment which aired on May 12, correspondent Asif Mandvi visits the town of Asbestos and interviews mine and city officials who ridiculously adhere to the position that the chrysotile fiber removed from the mine is "relatively" safe despite the weight of scientific evidence to the contrary.  More...

Whiz Kid: Aria Bendix, Santa Margarita Catholic High

Aria Bendix

For Aria Bendix, a senior at SMCHS, life took an unexpected, tragic turn in September, 2009, when her father Ken Bendix (an RGW,PC client) passed away from mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer linked to asbestos

Aria then formed the Breath of Hope Club at SMCHS, which raises awareness for the disease. Along with Liz Watson, vice president of the club, Aria has helped raise over $8,000 for the cause. More...

Surgery:

Photodynamic Therapy and the Evolution of a Lung-Sparing Surgical Treatment for Mesothelioma (5/2011)

University of Pennsylvania concludes that in addition to the inherent advantages of sparing the lung, radical pleurectomy (RP) plus photodynamic therapy (PDT) yielded a superior overall survival than modified extrapleural pneumonectomy (MEPP) plus photodynamic therapy in this series. Given these results, we believe RP plus PDT is a reasonable option for appropriate patients pursuing a surgical treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma and that this procedure can serve as the backbone of surgically based multimodal treatments. More...

Novel and Alternative Treatments:

Spice Extract May Suppress Growth of Mesothelioma Cell (5/2011)

Curcumin, the major component in the spice turmeric, alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutics has been under investigation for a number of cancers. In this study, we found that curcumin targets cell cycle and promotes apoptosis to suppress mesothelioma growth in vitro and in vivo and its future exploitation in effective management of resistant malignant shows promise. More...

Suppressive effect of asbestos on cytotoxicity of human NK cells.(6/2011)

This study examined the effect of asbestos exposure on human natural killer (NK) cells and the results indicate that asbestos has the potential to suppress cytotoxicity of NK cells. More...

Awareness:

Asbetos Linked to Ovarian Cancer

It's well known that exposure to asbestos causes lung cancer, but there have been suspicions that it could also be linked with ovarian cancer. Now, researchers have shown that there is indeed a causal association between asbestos exposure and ovarian cancer. More...