The Journal of Clinical Oncology had a report about improving the survival rate of patients with Pleural Mesothelioma. The article stated that patients with Pleural Mesothelioma may have improved health if they take a Trimodality Therapy treatment approach.

This approach uses three different types of treatment to combat the Mesothelioma Cancer.

Patients who have already tested this idea have responded well to the treatment. During the study, those who completed all three rounds of treatment saw a two-year survival rate of 61%.

What do you think about this?

A recent study was done and reported on by the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. The report stated that when Mesothelioma cells are under immense stress from heat they respond by increasing production of heat-shock proteins that save them from death. Researchers have now discovered that suppressing the release of these heat-shock proteins in the Mesothelioma cancer cells can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic treatments.

While there is no cure for Mesothelioma at the current time, this treatment option seems more and more like it will be a success in the coming years.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA is looking for Mesothelioma patients to take part in a clinical trial that will study the results of a combination of chemotherapy (consisting of gemcitabine and cisplatin) administered in the operating room as well as put into the chest and abdomen for one hour.

The study also hopes to determine the effects of heating the chemotherapy to 42 degrees Celsius and how cytoprotection agents amifostine and sodium thiosulfate counteract potential side effects of the chemotherapy. In addition to the chemotherapy there will be surgery including resection of the lung and lung lining, the covering of the heart and the muscle between the chest and the abdomen.

The Mesothelioma study is planned to be completed in 2010.

If you are interested in the clinical trial you can contact the hospital to see if you are eligible.