From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-369245-522704
NEW YORK (UPI) -- New York hospitals are recruiting patients for a
clinical research study of a new treatment for pleural mesothelioma
caused by asbestos.
Researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New
York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center say
the standard treatment for pleural mesothelioma is currently surgery
to remove the patient's lung -- a potentially debilitating
consequence, but the new treatment involves targeted radiation and
chemotherapy.
"Current surgical and chemotherapy treatments of patients with
malignant pleural mesothelioma are unsatisfactory, and have not been
shown to significantly prolong survival," Dr. Robert Taub, the study's
principal investigator, director of the Mesothelioma Center at New
York-Presbyterian/Columbia and professor at Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons said in a statement.
"In this study, we will investigate whether a combination of
chemotherapy and radiation targeted directly at the lung's lining can
improve outcomes while avoiding surgery -- in addition, this approach
has shown to have minimal toxic side effects compared to systemic
chemotherapy."
Researchers anticipate that the radiation therapy will kill the cancer
cells on the surface of the lung while sparing other parts of the lung
and surrounding vital tissues.