Mesothelioma Help Cancer News
Mesothelioma Patients Can Join Push to Educate the Public About the Benefits of Palliative Care
When diagnosed with mesothelioma, many patients and their families quickly learn the definition of “palliative care.” Mesothelioma is an aggressive, incurable cancer that is difficult to treat. For these reasons, doctors often focus the treatment plan on palliative care, as opposed to curative, and aim for relieving the symptoms and improving the patient’s quality of life.
However, according to a survey sponsored by the Center to Advance Palliative Care and the American Cancer Society, 70% of the adults surveyed indicated they were “not at all knowledgeable” about palliative care, and another 8% had never heard of the term. Even non-palliative care physicians are not fully aware of what palliative care offers patients.
Can this be good? According to Dr. Diane E. Meier, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care and professor of geriatrics and internal medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, the lack of knowledge about palliative care offers a huge opportunity to educate the public and to increase the number of palliative care medical specialists.
In a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Meier stressed that now is the time to educate physicians as well as the general public that palliative care is “actually about relieving the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness in patients of any age and at any stage of disease, and that palliative care can be delivered alongside curative or life-prolonging therapies.”
After the survey participants were educated about palliative care, 95% of those surveyed said it’s important for patients with serious illnesses and their families to learn about palliative care. Further, 92% of them admitted that they would likely consider palliative care for themselves and loved ones when needed.
Dr. Meier and her colleagues believe a nationwide campaign to educate Americans of the importance and effectiveness of palliative care will create a demand for palliative care, thus requiring a “big boost” in the workforce. Meier believes the current staffing level of palliative care specialists is so small “as to constitute a major barrier to access.”
To affect change in the perception of palliative care, and to grow the workforce, Meier and others are seeking funding for a 5-year, multi million-dollar social marketing campaign to increase public awareness regarding palliative care. Meier points out that there is one oncologist for every 145 cancer patients, and one cardiologist for every 71 myocardial infarction patients, but there is just one palliative care specialist for every 1,300 people with a serious illness.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released new guidelines in 2011 regarding palliative care. ASCO encourages physicians to discuss a patient’s treatment options and preferences, including end-of-life care, immediately after their terminal diagnosis so the treatment can be individualized from the start. The patient will better understand how palliative care can be used as a complementary treatment option with chemotherapy or radiation, or as the last step in their care.
When stricken with pleural mesothelioma, patients and their doctors continually struggle to keep the patients’ lungs free of fluid while trying to shrink the tumors that constrict the lungs and limit the patients’ ability to breathe. Palliative care treatment is intended to control pain, stop bleeding, and relieve pressure, while chemotherapy focuses on limiting tumor growth. For many mesothelioma patients, palliative care offers them an opportunity to stay out of the hospital and spend more time with their loved ones.
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Pinpointing Proteins May Lead to New Mesothelioma Therapies
An international team including researchers in New York, Hawaii and Italy have pinpointed a protein known as HMGB1 as a key player in the development of malignant mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure.
The new study in the journal Cancer Research describes the role that HMGB1 plays in the growth of malignant mesothelioma. It also suggests the possibility of a novel therapeutic approach for mesothelioma patients.
Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive and highly lethal cancer. Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, and a similar number die of the disease. Most people diagnosed with mesothelioma are older workers, retirees and veterans who inhaled asbestos fibers in a workplace for an extended period of months or years. The microscopic fibers lodge deep in the lungs causing tissue inflammation. The disease develops slowly over decades.
In a previous 2010 study, a research team composed of many of the same medical scientists found that patients exposed to asbestos have higher levels of HMGB1 in their blood. HMBG1 protein is released when cells are damaged or when tissue is injured. The protein causes an inflammatory reaction.
In the latest study, the researchers said the presence of the protein influences the growth and survival of mesothelioma cells. When the researchers inhibited the HMGB1 using anti-bodies in laboratory mice, it reduced the growth of mesothelioma cells in the mice and extended their survival. Inhibiting HMGB1 interferes with the inflammation process.
The team of investigators including Haining Yang and Michele Carbone of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and Harvey Pass of the New York University School of Medicine said their findings show that mesothelioma cancer cells rely on HMGB1. The research suggests that suppression of the protein HMGB1 using antibodies offers therapeutic promise as a new treatment for mesothelioma.
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Navy Veteran’s Award of $32 Million for Asbestos Exposure Among Largest NY Verdicts
A $32 million verdict awarded to a Navy veteran diagnosed with mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos aboard ships ranks among the five largest New York verdicts of 2011, according the legal publication Verdict Search.
The New York Mesothelioma law firm of Belluck & Fox represented Ronald Dummitt and his wife Doris Kay Dummitt, who accused asbestos manufacturers of recklessly failing to warn him about the health hazards of their products used on ships. Inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers causes mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that produces tumors in the lining of the lung and the abdominal cavity.
A New York jury in August 2011 awarded Ronald Dummitt, who served as a boiler tender and a Master Chief Petty Officer, and his wife $16 million for past pain and suffering and $16 million for future pain and suffering. The jury found that the asbestos manufacturers had acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others by failing to warn of the dangers of asbestos.
The jury determined that Dummitt developed pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, while serving aboard seven U.S. Navy ships between 1960 and 1977. Dummitt, who worked in the boiler room and fire rooms in the ship, was exposed to asbestos while repairing Crane Co.-manufactured valves, which involved removing and replacing asbestos containing gaskets, packing and lagging pads on each ship.
In addition, Dummitt was exposed to asbestos while working with Eliot Turbomachinery, Inc. – manufactured de-aerating feed tanks containing asbestos lagging pads and gaskets on one of the ships, the jury determined. The jury apportioned 99 percent of the responsibility to Crane and 1 percent to Eliot.
Navy veterans are among the workers most at risk of developing mesothelioma and asbestos disease. Asbestos materials were widely used on ships from World War II through the 1970s. Veterans who served on ships in the 1970s or 1980s may only recently have begun to experience symptoms of asbestos disease.
Dummitt said that he was originally diagnosed with pleural plaques, areas of scarring on the lining of the lung resulting from asbestos exposure in 2003. He began experiencing pain from accumulation of fluid on his lung and was diagnosed in April 2010 with pleural mesothelioma. Symptoms of mesothelioma often appear decades after exposure to asbestos.
“While no amount of money can restore Mr. Dummitt’s health, this mesothelioma verdict is just, and it represents all that we can do to set things right,” New York mesothelioma attorney Jordan Fox, a founding partner of Belluck & Fox, LLP said in a press release. ”The jury identified the culprits and the degree to which they contributed to his fatal disease, and to that extent, the truth prevailed. We are proud to have represented him.”
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Routine CT Screenings for Lung Cancer Would Detect Cancer Earlier and Save Lives
Men and women in the United States undergo regular screenings for certain cancers such as prostate cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer as part of routine medical checkups after a certain age. But patients typically don’t get screened for lung cancer, the most lethal cancer in the U.S.
Lung cancer kills more than 150,000 people each year in the United States. Lung cancer is associated with smoking as well as exposure to asbestos. More people die of lung cancer in the U.S. each year than die of breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer combined.
A new actuarial study published in the April issue of Health Affairs, a leading health policy journal, suggests that providing lung cancer screenings as an insurance benefit would save lives at a relatively low cost—about $12 a year per insured person. The refinement of low dose spiral CT scans, which can be done in a few seconds, has improved the detection of tumors in the lungs and reduced the need for invasive tests. Lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, are both caused by inhaling asbestos fibers. Both often go undetected until they have reached an advanced stage.
Some studies have shown CT scans to detect early stage lung cancer in high-risk patients who were not showing any symptoms. A randomized study comparing two ways of detecting lung cancer in more than 53,000 older men and women found that patients who received low dose CT scans had a 20 percent lower risk of dying of lung cancer than those who received standard chest x-rays.
The actuarial study, performed by actuaries with the consulting firm Milliman in New York, analyzed the cost and benefits of lung cancer screenings for Americans ages 50 to 64, who were smokers or former smokers and had the equivalent of a pack-a-day habit for 30 years. That high-risk group includes about 18 million people in the U.S.
The study estimated the average yearly cost of lung cancer screenings to be $247 per person screened. The screenings would result in 130,000 additional lung cancer survivors in the first year. The analysis estimated that more cases of lung cancer would be detected at an earlier stage. It found that CT scans for lung cancer would cost insurers less than screenings for cervical cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer. Spread over the entire population of Americans with health insurance, the cost is $12 per year.
The authors recommend that commercial insurance companies should consider providing coverage for lung cancer screenings using low dose CT scans for people at high risk of developing lung cancer.
Workplace asbestos exposure is associated with a greater risk of developing lung cancer or mesothelioma. Those who smoke and are exposed to asbestos have an even greater risk of developing lung cancer or mesothelioma. These diseases have similar symptoms that include a persistent cough, chest pain, shortness of breath and weight loss.
NORD’s Fundraising Event for Mesothelioma and Other Rare Diseases
The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) has announced its Partners in Progress 2012 Celebration will be held at Union Station in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The event is NORD’s primary fundraising event for the year. Patients with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer and one of the 7,000 rare, or “orphan,” diseases or conditions affecting millions of Americans, are eligible for support through NORD’s programs.
In the United States an orphan disease status is assigned to a disease or disorder if it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time. Mesothelioma is diagnosed in close to 3,000 Americans each year, with just as many dying from the disease.
NORD is a non-profit organization that receives no government funding and relies entirely on private donations. The organization offers vital services to the public through providing information about rare diseases, referrals to patient organizations, research grants and fellowships, advocacy for the rare-disease community, and Medication Assistance Programs that help needy patients obtain certain drugs they could not otherwise afford.
According to NORD, attendees at the Celebration include companies who work in the rare disease space, individuals from FDA and NIH who are interested in rare diseases, representatives from patient advocacy groups, and policy makers who are sensitive to rare disease issues.
Companies interested in co-sponsoring the event can find information at NORD’s website. Sponsorships are available from $1,000 to $50,000. Patients, government employees, patient organization representatives and other interested parties are invited to purchase individual tickets.
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