Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Meditation as One Way to Cope With the Stress of the Disease
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or any cancer, most people would advise you to go to a center where the medical team treats a lot of patients with your type of cancer. While deciding on how and where to get treatment, don’t forget to take into account your “whole” person.
There are many options available to help patients cope with the stressful diagnosis of cancer. The official term used to describe therapies and botanicals that are used along with traditional medical therapy is ‘Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM).’ According to the National Cancer Institute’s web site, a 2007 National Health Interview Survey reports about four out of ten adults use CAM therapy, with the most commonly used treatments being natural products and deep breathing exercises. In 2017, it would seem that this number would have risen significantly.
While being treated for mesothelioma it is important to take care of yourself both physically and mentally. One of the ways could be meditating to help turn down the noise in your head.
According to Psychology Today, meditation is the practice of turning your attention to a single point of reference. It can involve focusing on the breath, on bodily sensations, or on a word or phrase known as a mantra. In other words, meditation means turning your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment.
Meditation can be done in most settings. There are many types of meditation, but they have common elements to them. Two types of meditation are concentrative meditation and mindful meditation. Concentrative meditation teaches individuals to focus on a single image, sound or mantra, or even their own breathing. In mindful meditation, the person does not focus attention on a single thing but becomes more aware of any and all thoughts, feelings, sounds or images that may pass through your mind. The point is to let them pass through and not dwell on them.
The different types of meditation have four elements a person meditating should seek: a quiet place with as few distractions as possible; a comfortable position; something to focus on, possibly an object, a special word; and an open mind- letting things go through your mind and letting them go.
Whatever therapy you decide works for you, learn about it and give it a try. You never know what alternative therapy will work for you.
Global Asbestos Awareness Week
Last week was Global Asbestos Awareness Week. The week is dedicated to educating people about the risks of exposure to asbestos. Since 2004, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization has worked with the Senate to pass 12 resolutions declaring the first week in April Awareness Week. “Hear Asbestos Think Prevention,” educates the public about the continued dangers of asbestos. It is important to understand that asbestos related diseases are 100% preventable.
The leading cause of malignant mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. As we all know, asbestos is not banned in the United States. Alerting people to that fact can only help spread the word that asbestos is still a health hazard in the U.S.
As researchers, scientists and doctors all continue their quest to find a cure for mesothelioma, the fact is that people are still being exposed to asbestos. The time from exposure to asbestos to the development of this aggressive disease is decades – by not banning the use of asbestos, we assure that this dreaded, aggressive cancer will continue to claim victims for many years to come.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization continues to work relentlessly against the political tide to get this issue taken care of. What will it take for asbestos to be banned? The fact that asbestos continues to kill more than 190,000 people worldwide each year does not seem to be enough.
As you go about your usual busy lives, make it a point to tell your friends and family about the facts behind asbestos exposure in the U.S. Spread the word and support the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.
Accelerated Approval Granted to Drug in Mesothelioma Research Pipeline
In July, MesotheliomaHelp reported on a phase I clinical trial where various cancers, including mesothelioma, were being tested for the safety and tolerability of the drug avelumab. Now, the maker of the drug reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval to Bavencio (avelumab) for the treatment of patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).
EMD Serono Inc. reports the approval was based on the results of the JAVELIN clinical trial where of 88 patients with MCC who had been previously treated with at least one chemotherapy regimen, 33 percent experienced complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors. The response lasted for more than six months in 86 percent of responding patients and more than 12 months in 45 percent of responding patients, according to the FDA.
“The scientific community continues to make advances targeting the body’s immune system mechanisms for the treatment of various types of cancer,” Richard Pazdur, MD, of the FDA office of hematology and oncology products, said in a March 23 press release. “These advancements are leading to new therapies — even in rare forms of cancer where treatment options are limited or non-existent.”
Bavencio is an investigational immunotherapy drug that targets the PD-L1 protein. The drug works by blocking signals from PD-L1 tumors, activating the immune system, allowing it to take over and attack and kill cancer cells. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer have formed a strategic alliance to co-develop and co-commercialize the drug. This is the first FDA-approved therapy for patients with MCC.
Metastatic MCC is a rare and aggressive skin cancer, with fewer than half of patients surviving more than one year and fewer than 20% surviving beyond five years.
Like MCC, mesothelioma is a rare, orphan disease that is challenging to treat and often recurs in patients. Prognosis for mesothelioma is often less than 18 months. With an initial positive result for mesothelioma patients with this drug in the JAVELIN clinical trial, the mesothelioma community is hoping for continued positive results that could lead to a new treatment for patients with the asbestos-caused cancer.
According to the FDA, Accelerated Approval enables the FDA to approve drugs for serious conditions to fill an unmet medical need using clinical trial data that is thought to predict a clinical benefit to patients.
Bavencio also received Orphan Drug designation, which provides incentives to assist and encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
“Today is a significant milestone for people fighting metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, who until now have not had any options beyond chemotherapy,” said Albert Bourla, Group President, Pfizer Innovative Health in a March 23 press release. “This approval demonstrates the power of collaboration to accelerate meaningful new choices for cancer patients.”
Pleural mesothelioma is a terminal cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by past exposure to asbestos. The cancer is diagnosed in nearly 3000 Americans each year.
For more information about the ongoing JAVELIN clinical trial see ClinicalTrials.gov.
Sources:
- ClinicalTrials.gov
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=%22malignant+mesothelioma%22&recr=Open&pg=1 - FDA office of hematology and oncology products
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm548278.htm - Albert Bourla, Group President, Pfizer Innovative Health
http://media.emdserono.com/2017-03-23-FDA-Grants-Approval-for-BAVENCIO-R-avelumab-the-First-Immunotherapy-Approved-for-Metastatic-Merkel-Cell-Carcinoma
Nurse Sees Uniqueness in Each of her Mesothelioma Patients
Seeing patients dealing with mesothelioma at different points in their journey reminds me of just how much still needs to be done in the fight against mesothelioma. Within the last few weeks, I have seen newly diagnosed patients who are hard to identify from their loved ones. Who is the patient? All different age ranges, from 29 to 85, men and women, all starting on their journey, all unique people with different stories. What lies ahead for them? No one knows.
The other day I ran into a patient, a young man who was diagnosed and treated 18 months ago. He had surgery followed by many complications and after a prolonged hospital stay he went home with his family. I was unprepared for what he told me, and was surprised by his physical appearance. He was smaller than I remembered, and he was wearing oxygen. As we talked he confided that there was nothing left his medical team could do for him. Then, his next statement keeps playing in my head, “I only have months left.” How sad for him and his loved ones as they face the final part of his journey with mesothelioma.
That same day I ran into a four-year mesothelioma survivor. He looked great, felt well and was enjoying life. Mesothelioma, like all of life, is a different journey for everyone.
Everyday I wake up I feel privileged to care for patients with mesothelioma. Others in the medical community, whether it is researchers, doctors, nurses, or X-ray techs, all hope to make a difference. We believe we do, but sometimes the reminders that people will die from this disease is harsh and heartbreaking.
The statistics are more than that. Behind each number is a person who we have been fortunate to meet and form a relationship with. The journey continues and everyone just wants to enjoy quality time with their loved ones.
Probe May Guide Surgeons to Successful Removal of Mesothelioma Cells
MesotheliomaHelp has reported on numerous attempts by researchers to develop a tool that causes cancer cells to glow allowing surgeons to home in on them during surgery. Now, researchers believe they have developed a probe that will light up cancer cells and give surgeons confidence that they can remove all cancer cells.
Researchers from Michigan Tech focused on beta-galactosidase, a key enzyme with a “long track record in medical science,” according to the researchers. The probe the team developed bonds to the beta-galactosidase leading to a bright glow under fluorescent light.
“Doctors need to pinpoint cancer tissue, but that can be hard,” said Haiying Liu, lead researcher and a chemistry professor at Michigan Technological University. “If we could make beta-galactosidase glow brightly during surgery, it could play a major role in improving outcomes.”
The researchers believe their light-up approach is superior to others for the following reasons:
- The near-infrared glow can penetrate deeper into the tissue giving surgeons a view of tumors underneath healthy tissue.
- The glow is a bright white light and not blue or green like others that can be distracting.
- The fluorescence is “stable and long lasting” making it useful in long cancer surgeries.
Mesothelioma, an unusual form of cancer caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers, often has a complex growth pattern making complete surgical removal a very difficult task. Surgeons often have to guess how much tissue to remove, then send samples to the lab for confirmation that they got it all. They also do not want to remove too much healthy tissue. Use of the probe could eliminate guesswork.
“Doctors want to remove all the cancer, but they also don’t want to cut too much,” Liu said. “We want to make their job a little easier.”
Currently, there is no treatment available for mesothelioma that has shown a 100% efficacy rate. Mesothelioma cancer cells have proven to be resistant to the standard treatments of chemotherapy and radiation. While not all mesothelioma patients are candidates for surgery, those who are, may see a higher success rate with surgeons able to pinpoint all cancer cells.
Read the full study in the March 8 issue of the journal Analytic Chimica Acta.
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It contains a wealth of information and resources to help you better understand the condition, choose (and afford) appropriate treatment, and exercise your legal right to compensation.
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