According to a report recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Taiwan University have developed a five-gene test that may help show which early-stage lung cancer patients most need chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can be greatly beneficial in slowing or halting the growth of lung cancer in some patients, but have little or no effect in others.

Currently, no test exists to help determine which patients might most benefit from chemotherapy treatments.The genetic test, which is still experimental, needs to be validated in larger groups of patients, and widespread use is likely a few years in the future. Still, researchers are encouraged by the early promise shown by the test, and the fact that its simplicity would make it relatively easy to use in everyday hospital settings.

Tags: Mesothelioma Articles // Add Comment »

USGS scientists debunk industry claim, call particles dangerous.
The Sacramento Bee reported on December 20, 2006 that the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a federal environmental agency’s findings of a particularly dangerous kind of asbestos on playgrounds in El Dorado Hill. USGS experts in mineral identification reached the conclusion after closely examining the playgrounds’ study samples of tiny particles that the mining industry asserted were not asbestos.The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted the October 2004 study of El Dorado Hills’ Community Park and nearby schoolyards, and EPA officials said the Geological Survey’s findings affirmed its pioneering exposure studies of naturally occurring asbestos in El Dorado Hills and elsewhere in the country.The EPA study found that children and adults in El Dorado Hills can significantly raise their exposure to breathable asbestos particles simply from the dust kicked up riding a bicycle or playing basketball on outdoor courts. Asbestos health experts say that the main public health concern related to such exposures is mesothelioma, a cancer of the membranes lining the chest and other body cavities.The findings from federal scientists prompted the Community Services District to blacktop the New York Creek trail running through the park and increase irrigation on sports fields to cut dust.

The County Supervisor of El Dorado Hills, Helen Baumann, called the Geological Survey’s study “a fair analysis” and left her confident that the county is “doing everything we need to do to protect public health.”The USGS investigators said asbestos health experts, not the mining industry or mineralogists, need to take the lead in redefining asbestos from a health perspective. “Ultimately, it is the health community that must determine what particle types are significant with respect to asbestos-related diseases,”the report said.

Tags: Mesothelioma Articles // Add Comment »

According to a poll conducted by USA TODAY, Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health, half of cancer patients and their households have trouble coordinating medical care for their disease. The poll, reported in an article appearing in the USA TODAY on November 20, 2006, surveyed 930 adults who had survived cancer in the preceding five years or who share a household with someone diagnosed with cancer. 
According to the USA TODAY article, coordinating care is one of the biggest challenges for cancer patients. Unlike past decades, when patients spent months in the hospital while receiving chemotherapy and other treatments, patients today often receive treatment or attend doctors’ appointments for only a few hours at a time. Cancer care is also more complex than in years past, with patients seeing a variety of doctors who each handle only one facet of patients’ care, often in different offices.

In such cases, unless one doctor takes responsibility for coordinating care, a patient’s medical records may be scattered among various doctors’ offices and treatment may be piecemeal. The problem is compounded by the fact that insurance plans do not typically pay doctors to coordinate care. Patients who attend comprehensive cancer centers may receive better coordination of their care, but only about 10% of cancer patients are treated at this type of large cancer center. Ellen Stovall, president and chief executive officer of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, advocates for improved information for cancer patients. For example, she supports the Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act, which would allow Medicare to pay doctors for coordinating care.

According to Stovall, every cancer patient deserves three key documents: A care plan, developed soon after diagnosis, outlining the patient’s treatment plan;A treatment summary provided to the patient after the conclusion of their therapy, summarizing their surgeries, radiation and drugs, including dosages; A plan for ongoing care, providing guidance for how survivors should monitor their health, including information about screening tests, follow-up exams, and possible long-term side effects of the treatment they received.

Tags: Mesothelioma Articles // Add Comment »