International Mesothelioma Program New Research

The International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston continue to make progress in malignant mesothelioma research. The scientists and doctors involved with the project are looking for information that will lead to better adjuvant therapies for the rare and deadly disease. Adjuvant therapies are treatments given to help boost the effectiveness of other treatments. In the case of malignant mesothelioma, the term adjuvant therapies typically refers to treatments that are administered to patients after they have had tumors surgically removed.

In a recent study, scientists used mice to test potential adjuvant therapies. Human mesothelioma cells were introduced into the test mice, allowed to metastasize (to grow), then surgically removed. This procedure turned the mice into workable test subjects for testing ne mesothelioma adjuvant therapies.

One of the therapies researchers studied on the mice was intracavitary chemotherapy, which means applying the chemotherapy drug, paclitaxel, into the cavity of the body around the site where the tumor has been removed just prior to closing the incision. The results of this test on the test mice were encouraging.

In a report published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Paclitaxel-laded Expansile Nanoparticles in a Multimodal Treatment, Model of Malignant Mesothelioma, the researchers state: Treatment with [paclitaxel] improved overall survival in the setting of [the surgery], suggesting that [it] merits further evaluation for intracavitary drug delivery following the surgical resection of malignant mesothelioma. What this means is that this particular adjuvant therapy may be successful in the survival of mesothelioma patients.

Advancements such as these are very important to patients of malignant mesothelioma, as the cancer is serious and fatal.

For those who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer that can be linked to asbestos exposure caused by a product or former employer, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Contact an experienced mesothelioma attorney to learn more about your rights, and to see if pursuing a mesothelioma settlement is in your best interest.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21963198

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Last modified: October 4, 2017