Monday, December 20, 2010

Mesothelioma: An Aggressive, Deadly Cancer That’s on the Rise

Diagnoses of mesothelioma, a highly aggressive and nearly always fatal cancer, are on the rise. So much so that in 2010, mesothelioma cases—the result of exposure to asbestos decades earlier—are expected to peak in the United States.

That’s sobering news to patients, researchers, and the mesothelioma lawyers who have been fighting for justice, accountability, and compensation—often quite successfully—for those struck down by the asbestos-related disease.

The health risks of asbestos exposure were scientifically proven years ago. So why the increase in mesothelioma at a time when the dangers of asbestos are common knowledge and strict laws are in place regulating asbestos use, removal, and handling? Asbestos exposure is the single known cause of this horrific disease.

A big reason why diagnoses are peaking now: the latency period for mesothelioma, which is often 20 or 30 years or more after asbestos fibers are inhaled into the lungs or ingested.

Once diagnosed, mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the cells lining the body’s internal organs, is irreversible, and the patient’s prognosis is grim. There is no cure for mesothelioma, or even an effective long-term treatment. For most patients, their only relief is the courtroom, where mesothelioma lawyers have won large, often multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements against those responsible for exposing them to asbestos.

Mesothelioma is not the only condition that can be triggered by asbestos exposure. Lung cancer, too, is a common ailment plaguing those who have inhaled asbestos particles—something that can easily happen even today, when asbestos is disturbed in the course of renovation or demolition work and fibers are released into the air.

In medical practices across the country—particularly those in communities with large populations of retired asbestos workers—doctors report seeing a new uptick in the steady stream of mesothelioma cases.
Dr. Roy Smythe, chairman of the department of surgery for Scott & White Healthcare in Texas, reports that he sees two to four new mesothelioma patients a month—and for each of these, there is probably another patient seen by another doctor at the clinic.

Texas has developed into a focal point for mesothelioma cases due to the high number of residents who were exposed to asbestos years ago while working in the oil and refining industry. Others worked along the Gulf Coast in shipbuilding—another line of work where asbestos exposure was common.

Smythe says he’s seen patients who have worked as insulators, pipe fitters, roofers, and many other jobs that entailed significant exposure to asbestos-containing materials.

With their lives and finances in dire shape, many of these individuals are seeing mesothelioma lawyers as well. Victims are, of course, not looking to lawyers for a cure, but for the compensation that will make the future easier for their families—and help send the message that asbestos exposure has all-too-real consequences.

This news story was brought to you by the mesothelioma lawyers at Cooney & Conway. For more than half a century, we’ve brought relief—and recovery—to those injured by the negligence or harmful actions of others.
In the process, we’ve litigated some of the country’s most significant asbestos lawsuits, helping victims of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases get answers—and justice.

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mesothelioma Fund in Australia Receives Boost

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 

Australia has recently completed a $160 million loan to the state of New South Wales in order to help James Hardie Industries NV continue compensating asbestos victims. The biggest seller of home siding in the United States, James Hardie Industries has been unable to contribute to the asbestos fund due to the poor U.S. housing market.

According to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, New South Wales will contribute an equal amount of money to the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund each time the loan is drawn down. The interest on the loan to New South Wales, which is to be repaid by June 30, 2020, will be set at a rate equal to Australia’s cost of borrowing.

Gillard said, “The profitability of James Hardie has been affected by the global financial crisis and that has affected its ability to make contributions into the fund in recent times. We are giving certainty to James Hardie asbestos victims that there are funds available to meet their claims.”

Due to the extensive use of asbestos throughout the 20th century, Australia has one of the highest incidences of mesothelioma in the world. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure.

While strict regulations on the use of asbestos have been in force for quite some time, Australian residents are still developing asbestos-related diseases because of the severe latency period associated with symptoms. Mesothelioma symptoms can take as long as 50 years to arise from the time of a person’s initial exposure to asbestos.

In other news, New South Wales recently introduced legislation to increase the lump sum payment to families of asbestos victims by as much as $65,000. Michael Daley, New South Wales Finance Minister, raised the compensation from $245,700 to $311,050.

Additional information on mesothelioma may be found through the Mesothelioma Center.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010

CTS: Fibrous Mineral Linked to Mesothelioma

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: December 10, 2010

CHICAGO -- A naturally-occurring, asbestos-like mineral may be placing residents of North Dakota -- and elsewhere in the U.S. -- at risk for malignant mesothelioma, researchers found.

Exposure to erionite, whose fibers are physically -- but not chemically -- similar to those of asbestos, has been tied to unprecedented rates of malignant mesothelioma in villages in Cappadocia, a region in Turkey, according to Michele Carbone, MD, PhD, of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu.

Over the past few years, Carbone and his colleagues -- including researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Geological Survey, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) -- have characterized the erionite exposure in Dunn County, N.D., where the mineral has been included in gravel used to make roads over the past two to three decades.

Reporting at the Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, Carbone said that mean erionite exposures measured along roads, indoors, and inside vehicles traveling along contaminated roads are equal to or greater than those found in the village of Boyali, where malignant mesothelioma accounts for 6.2% of all deaths.

Exposures were lower, however, than those found in villages in which the disease accounts for 26% to 52% of all deaths.

Because erionite has a latency period of 30 years or more, Carbone said, an uptick in mesothelioma cases has not been seen in North Dakota, although there is concern for the future.

That concern is underscored by a recent study released by the North Dakota Department of Health and the EPA, which found that in 33 people who had high erionite exposure either from working in gravel pits or on road maintenance, there was a significant increase in the pleural changes compared with male transportation workers with low cumulative asbestos fiber exposure (17.6% versus 1.5%).

Erionite deposits are also present in 12 other states -- all in the western half of the country -- and Carbone said exposures in those areas are unknown.

He and his colleagues set out to compare exposures in the Turkish villages to those in North Dakota, taking air samples in both places.

Mean exposures in North Dakota were near the lower range of exposures found in Turkey.

The physical and chemical properties of erionite were similar in samples taken from both sites. In cultures of mesothelial cells, both North Dakota and Turkish erionite induced programmed cell necrosis and the release of the cytokines HMBG1 and TNF-alpha.

Those processes have been linked to mineral fiber carcinogenesis, Carbone said.

The same inflammatory effects were seen in rats exposed to the erionite samples.

Carbone said that people living in areas where erionite is found should not panic, because the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma is low, even for highly exposed populations. He cited a study of South African miners who had exposures to asbestos lasting 10 years or more. In that population, 5% developed the disease.

Study co-author Aubrey Miller, MD, MPH, senior medical adviser of the NIEHS, said immediate measures to cut off the exposures have been implemented in North Dakota. Although erionite is not a regulated mineral, the state has limited its use for state-funded projects, and has released advisories warning of the danger. Roads containing erionite will be paved over.

Carbone and his colleagues have also begun studying biomarkers for the early detection of mesothelioma, which cannot be treated when it spreads but may be treated with some impact in its early stages.

But the best way to manage malignant mesothelioma is to prevent it from developing in the first place, said Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who moderated a press briefing at which the findings were presented.

And, he added, "even though mesothelioma rates are low, it's one of the diseases that clearly has a causative agent -- that being these fibers, asbestos or erionite -- so if we can try to prevent this, that will pay dividends for many years to come."

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Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Prognosis of Advanced Stage Mesothelioma

There is an array of features in the advancement of a patient's mesothelioma prognosis and specific variations in these features may have a significant impact on the development of the disease. The statistical models used in mesothelioma usually overlook the exceptional differences between a patient's prognosis or diagnosis and how the cancer actually influences the patient's life.

Similar to other types of cancer, staging is essential to determine the prognosis of mesothelioma. Although, statistical data for mesothelioma are quite difficult to find and the data currently existing today are unreliable. Early diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma is imperative for a favorable prognosis. One problem is that mesothelioma is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, thus the five year survival rate is statistically often unreliable. Stage IV mesothelioma cancer has distant organ metastasis and is untreatable at this stage thus giving it a poor prognosis. Treatment at this terminal stage usually consists of pain management and supportive care.

Mesothelioma's latency period is usually about 10 to 30 years with symptoms such as breathing problems and a decrease of lung elasticity. For approximately two thirds of mesothelioma patients, pleural and peritoneal effusion is a main symptomatic problem. For stage II mesothelioma patients, single agent and combined chemotherapy have resulted in increased response rates, although causing higher levels of toxicity. Also, there is minimal evidence of which combination treatments results in longer survival or better control of the symptoms.

The diagnostic procedure of malignant mesothelioma starts with a systematic medical history to record the patient's symptoms and any possible exposure to asbestos, continued with a thorough physical examination. Diagnosis is continued with additional examinations such as chest or abdominal X-ray, computed tomography scan (CT scan) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). One important aspect to consider is that signs and symptoms of mesothelioma are quite similar to other cancers and lung diseases.

The level of symptomatic severity varies for each individual, although in a majority of cases the development of Pleural Mesothelioma is quite slow with symptoms localized in the chest such as chest pain. At times, the chest pain is accompanied by severe breathing problems or shortness of breath. Symptoms such as breathlessness, coughing, and chest pain shows advancement of asbestosis and this usually causes the sufferer to seek medical care. After taking the patient's history and general physical examinations, the physician will usually order chest imaging studies such as X-rays, MRI, CT scan to assess the lungs.

Patients suffering from mesothelioma have symptoms similar to other lung diseases which the physician may not even think to be correlated to asbestos let alone malignant mesothelioma. Usually, malignant mesothelioma develops within 10 to 30 years and during this period of latency patients suffering from this disease may have minimal to no symptoms. Several of these signs and symptoms develop in an advanced stage of the cancer which maybe accompanied with distant metastasis to other organs of the body. Men have a higher risk to develop this disease and the risk increases with age.

Although surgery is quite successful for palliative control of the symptoms, it only has a minimal effect on the median survival rate since it is a radical form of treatment. Pleurectomy or decortications can be done to alleviate the symptoms in pleural mesothelioma. Several other procedures, like thoracentesis can be done to drain pleural effusion and prevent them from recurring. Extrapleural pneumonectomy which is known as a radical treatment approach will have an average survival rate of approximately 15-24 months.

http://www.headlinesnews.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Huffman 

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Friday, April 23, 2010

Mesothelioma Asbestos Lawyer - A History of a Malignant Industry and How to Receive Compensation

The history of asbestos dates back to around 2000 thousands years ago. However, it may surprise you to know that the dangers of asbestos have been known as far back as the Roman empire, when it was linked to lung disease in the slaves that were forced to mine the mineral for commercial use.

In more recent history, in 1918, the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics published a report that linked the deaths of asbestos workers to the inhalation of asbestos.

Then in 1924, a 33 year old woman named Nellie Kershaw died from the world's first diagnosis of asbestosis in the UK. She worked in an asbestos plant for the world's largest asbestos conglomerate named Turner & Newall (T&N). T&N denied any responsibility or compensation. Decades later, documents at the Manchester Metropolitan University exposed the scandalous fact that T&N had known all along that asbestos was a lethal carcinogen.

Despite the known dangers of asbestos, the asbestos industry exploded all around the world, peaking in the 1970's at over 5 million tons/year. Today, the world is still producing over 2 million tons/year even after its use has been banned in over 60 countries around the world.

So why was asbestos used on such a widespread global basis when it was a known fact that it was toxic. The answer is profits. Asbestos is a deadly but amazing mineral that has incredible physical properties that allow for its use as a light weight fire retardant material.

Since the lethal nature of asbestos was public knowledge by the 1930's it has been proven in court that corporations knew of the deadly nature of asbestos and still willingly exposed the public and their employees to it. Many victims of asbestos have received compensation for their medical bills, lost wages and other expenses. On February 27, 2008, one of the largest court settlements was awarded in New Jersey. The amount of $30.3 million was awarded to the widow and three daughters of Mark Buttitta from General Motors. The interesting fact about this case was that Mr. Buttitta claimed his exposure to asbestos was from his father and brother who brought home asbestos contaminated clothing from their jobs at General Motors.

There is a massive legal industry that is growing to obtain compensation for mesothelioma patients. Many legal precedents have been set in courts around the world which make it much easier to prove that employers knew of the dangers surrounding asbestos exposure. It is relatively easy to find a lawyer in your area that specializes in mesothelioma litigation especially if you live in a big city. Simply use a Google search and type in something like,"mesothelioma lawyer New York". Your visit to the lawyer will more than likely be short lived as most mesothelioma lawyers will be respectful of your health and emotional challenges and will do all that they can to handle the case with as little of your time as possible.

Paul Folkmann is a mesothelioma cancer researcher. To learn more about mesothelioma and how to receive compensation, visit: Mesothelioma Oracle. There you will also find information on mesothelioma treatments, stories of hope, and the latest news.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_J._Folkmann 

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