Mesothelioma Help Cancer News

Cancer Survivorship Conference Gives Mesothelioma Patients and Their Families an Opportunity to Share Hope with Others

• Nancy Meredith
• For Your Family

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ranked by US News & World Report as the nation’s best hospital for cancer care, is sponsoring their annual Anderson Network Cancer Survivorship Conference on September 16-17 at the Omni Westside in Houston, TX. The conference offers attendees an opportunity to share hope and gather support and understanding from other cancer survivors. Mesothelioma and cancer patients, their families and their caregivers are all invited to attend.

The MD Anderson Cancer Center has over 30 specialists on staff that supports their multi-disciplinary approach to treating mesothelioma patients. Their ongoing research and unique initiatives dedicated to finding a cure for mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen, makes them one of the few cancer centers in the world with a comprehensive program. MD Anderson is also one of the leaders in focusing on personalized cancer treatment.

The National Cancer Institute defines cancer survivorship as covering “the physical, psychosocial, and economic issues of cancer, from diagnosis until the end of life.” Survivorship also focuses on the health and life of a person with cancer beyond the diagnosis and treatment phases. Survivorship includes issues related to the ability to get health care and follow-up treatment, late effects of treatment, second cancers, and quality of life. The conference offers sessions in many of these areas, and is open to anyone interested in cancer survivorship information.

This year’s conference features sessions with celebrity cancer survivors Dave Dravecky, Major League Baseball Pitcher, Barbara Padilla, First Runner-Up, America’s Got Talent, Sean Swarner, First Cancer Survivor to Climb Mt. Everest and Hans Rueffert, chef and author of “Eat Like There’s No Tomorrow.”

Conference sessions pertinent to mesothelioma patients and their caregivers include:

• Depression and Cancer: Real or Imagined?, Kathie Rickman, MD, DrPH, BSN
• Rough Road – Caregiver’s Struggle to Heal Their Own Physical and Mental Health, Guadalupe Palos, DrPH, LMSW
• Improving Outcomes with Comprehensive Lifestyle Changes, Lorenzo Cohen, PhD
• Cancer-Related Fatigue and Management Strategies, Ellen Manzullo, MD

The conference will also present some sessions in Spanish.

For more information or to register for the conference see the MD Anderson Cancer Center website.

Asbestos Ban Would Prevent Millions of Cancer Deaths

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma

A University of Wisconsin epidemiologist says that the use of asbestos-containing building materials in developing countries will lead to millions of avoidable cases of cancer and an epidemic of asbestos-disease.

In an article in the September issue of the Annals of Epidemiology, Marty S. Kanarek, a University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health professor, said his review of health studies around the world suggests that an epidemic of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, is forthcoming in developing nations.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. Most individuals who develop mesothelioma worked around asbestos and typically develop symptoms of asbestos disease 20 years to 50 years after exposure. In the United States, mesothelioma is blamed for 131,200 cancer deaths between 1985 and 2009 and 10 million worldwide.  About 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year  in the United States.

Kanarek, who has been studying the health effects of asbestos for 40 years, said his conclusion and that of many environmental health scientists is that all asbestos should be banned worldwide. “We could prevent a million or more cases of cancer,” Kanarek said in a press release issued by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “The evidence is very clear.”

Kanarek says the association between asbestos and serious respiratory health projects has been known for a century. But he contends that the asbestos industry has clouded the issue by attributing the health problems to a rarely used form of asbestos and not to chrysotile asbestos, which accounts for more then 95 percent of commercially used asbestos.

Kanarek reviewed dozens of studies of mesothelioma cases involving brake workers in the United States, miners in Africa, cement pipe factory workers in Egypt and concluded that chrysotile asbestos poses an occupational hazard of developing mesothelioma around the world.

“Because asbestos has not yet been banned in many countries, there are projections of an increasing epidemic worldwide,” Kanarek said. “Today, there are many safer, cheaper substitutes materials available, so the time is long past for a worldwide asbestos ban.”

Eleven Indicted in NY Asbestos Removal Project at Buffalo Housing Project

• Nancy Meredith
• Asbestos Exposure

Three New York inspectors are among nine people and two companies indicted on criminal charges involving illegal asbestos removal at a Buffalo, N.Y. housing complex. Breathing asbestos causes life threatening diseases including mesothelioma and lung cancer so New York and federal laws strictly regulate the handling of asbestos-containing materials.

The 62-page federal indictment, handed down Aug. 4, focuses on work done by two companies that were hired to remove asbestos from the Kensington Heights housing project before its demolition. Johnson Contracting of WNY, Inc., was contracted to remove and dispose of an estimated 63,000 square feet of hazardous asbestos from each of six housing towers in the 17-acre complex. JMD Environmental Inc. was hired as a sub-contractor to monitor the asbestos removal work and do air sampling.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice release, from June 2009 to January 2010, workers for Johnson Contracting overseen by company president Ernest Johnson and supervisor Rai Johnson allegedly illegally stripped asbestos-containing materials at the Kensington Towers in violation of the Clean Air Act. The indictment accuses the company officials of instructing workers to dump asbestos-containing debris down holes cut in the floor and directing workers to leave asbestos in the towers knowing that the buildings were going to be demolished.

During the same time period, the JMD Environmental was supposed to monitor the asbestos removal work and perform air sampling, according to the Justice Department. The indictment alleges that JMD and its employees including supervisor Evan Harnden and three project monitors failed to conduct proper air sampling and created false visual inspection reports by certifying that all asbestos had been removed from the buildings.

Two city of Buffalo building inspectors also were charged with falsely certifying that all asbestos had been removed from the six buildings, when they  knew the asbestos had not been removed. Also indicted was an inspector with the New York State Department of Labor Asbestos Control Bureau for allegedly concealing the illegal asbestos removal activities occurring at Kensington Heights.

Each of the 23 charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Each year, an estimated 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung that is a signature disease of asbestos exposure. Many older houses and buildings contain insulation, shingles and other building materials containing asbestos. Asbestos exposure is an occupational hazard for construction and demolition workers and a primary way people are exposed to asbestos today.

Dignity Therapy to Improve Mesothelioma Patients’ Perception of Life

• Nancy Meredith
• For Your Family

Mesothelioma is a unique and rare form of cancer, typically affecting the lining of the lungs, caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. Usually not diagnosed until symptoms appear, sometimes decades after exposure to asbestos, patients are left with few treatment options as the disease rapidly progresses. The treatments at this point are often palliative and are intended to control pain, stop bleeding, and relieve pressure. Now, according to a study published in The Lancet Oncology, offering dignity therapy, an individualized, short-term psychotherapy, can help improve a patient’s quality of life, increase a sense of dignity and alter the way patients were seen and appreciated by their family.

In the study, investigators from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, randomly assigned dignity therapy, client-centric care or standard palliative care to 165 patients with a life expectancy of less than six months. Focusing on reduction of distress and self-reported end-of-life experiences, the researchers’ goal was to determine whether dignity therapy could mitigate distress or bolster the experience in patients nearing the end of their lives.

While no significant differences were noted in the distress levels before and after completion of the study in the three groups, self-reported spiritual well-being and lessening of sadness or depression were significantly improved in the dignity group compared to the other two groups without dignity therapy. The researchers concluded that the benefits of dignity therapy “in terms of self-reported end-of-life experiences support its clinical application for patients nearing death.”

Oftentimes, mesothelioma patients and their family turn to a hospice program when the patients no longer respond to the prescribed treatment plan, and their primary caregiver needs support caring for their loved one. Hospice is designed to improve the quality of a patient’s last days by offering comfort and dignity, and often allows the patients to remain in their own home surrounded by their loved ones. This approach can be combined with dignity therapy to further support the patient.

Further, in the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s guidelines released in January for care of patients with advanced cancer, they stated that with palliative care “patients with advanced cancer are given the opportunity to die with dignity and peace of mind.” With palliative care, the expectation is that the patient will maintain a good quality of life until the end.

The authors of the study added, “Future research exploring the beneficial effects of dignity therapy will help to unravel the psychological, spiritual, and existential complexities for an individual facing death.”

International Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Staging Project Underway

• Nancy Meredith
• Uncategorized

By Nancy Meredith

An international collaboration effort is underway to study and improve the current staging system for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Led by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and in collaboration with the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG), the Prospective Staging Project in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma was formally initiated at a joint meeting of the IASLC-ISC Mesothelioma Domain and Advisory Committee in September 2010 in Kyoto, Japan, in conjunction with the biennial IMIG meeting.

The current mesothelioma staging system used by the American Joint Committee on Cancer, recognized as the official organization for formulating and publishing systems of classification of cancer, was developed by IMIG in 1995. Their “TNM” staging system is based on the relationship between Tumor size, lymph Node, and Metastasis. This staging system applies to only those tumors that arise from the pleura.

However, now mesothelioma experts believe there are improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma that warrant a revised staging system. Specifically, the IASLC indicates that some of the “T” descriptors in the current staging system are difficult to apply to patients who are managed non-surgically, and the “N” staging is nearly identical to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), even though there are significant differences between the two cancers.

An accurate staging system is critical for determining the prognosis and effective treatment for mesothelioma patients. The treatment options are typically based on the extent of the cancer, which is determined by staging. A localized cancer would be identified as Stage 1, for example, and can involve a surgically removable tumor. Once the cancer cells have spread beyond that original location, and a higher stage level is designated, the mesothelioma is considered advanced and surgery is often no longer an option.

The process of modifying the staging system involves a detailed collection and analysis of mesothelioma patient data and samples leading researchers “to identify and validate additional descriptors for possible inclusion in future revisions to the TNM classification.” The data will be based on subjects that have been diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma after January 1, 2010. The data will be compiled and stored in a secure, web-based, electronic data capture system provided by Cancer Research and Biostatistics (CRAB) in Seattle, Washington.

Some of the primary members of the committee include renowned mesothelioma experts Harvey Pass, M.D., NYU Langone Medical Center, Hedy Kindler, M.D.,University of Chicago and Jeremy Erasmus, M.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The project leaders expect to submit recommendations for proposals for change regarding the 8th edition of the TNM classification for the staging of malignant pleural mesothelioma in January 2014. The recommendations will be based on data collected prior to December 31, 2012. The group intends to continue to collect prospective data to inform future revisions of the staging guidelines.

For more information see the IASLC website.