Mesothelioma is a cancer that knows to be causing by exposure to asbestos. It is a condition when the mesothelioma symptoms are invading by malignant cancer cells. The mesothelioma is the protective lining surrounding the human lungs and other body organs. It is most commonly seen around the lungs, but can also been found around the heart.

When people are mesothelioma diagnosis, the average life span is only about twenty-four months. Many victims of mesothelioma get this condition because they were exposing to asbestos in the workplace. Factory, automotive, construction, demolition and other laborious jobs have high exposure to asbestos on a daily basis. Although there are no immediate symptoms of asbestos exposure, the exposure slowly built up in the victim’s body. One can be exposing estimate to asbestos for as long as thirty-five to forty years before any illness if present.

Did you know that mesothelioma symptoms are avoid if some simple safety procedures would have been consider while the victim was working on the job? In the past, before much known by the public of the dangers of asbestos, many companies knew that it was a dangerous fiber and did little or nothing to protect or inform their employees. Therefore, if you have been diagnosis with mesothelioma and were once an employee of a laborious job that had high exposure to asbestos, you could be entitled to a large amount of money.

It has recently been discovered that most patients who have mesothelioma symptoms used to work in a job where asbestos exposure was something that occurred on a daily basis. Unfortunately, they got mesothelioma because they worked hard every day in a dangerous environment to provide food and shelter for their families. These people are entitled to file a claim against their companies for the damages of mesothelioma. Thousands of people have filed lawsuits and the liability of these lawsuits has reached into the billions of dollars.

You can also be entitled to some of these funds for your pain and suffering. If you or a loved one has mesothelioma, you should contact an asbestos lawyer as soon as possible. You could be entitled to some large funds because of your pain and suffering caused my mesothelioma symptoms. Many lawyers are train in these types of cases and are ready to answer any questions you may have about initiating a mesothelioma lawsuit.

CHICAGO, IL-Physicians presenting clinical data at the Malignant Mesothelioma Conference, hosted by the University of Chicago, echoed one and other with a recurring theme--while the past has offered little in the way of advancements in surgical, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, new active drugs and insights into the biology of mesothelioma are demonstrating real progress, helping to replace longstanding nihilism that had been associated with the treatment of this disease.

Antifolates, such as premetrexed disodium (Alimta), offer new hope for effective treatments, as illustrated by the results of a phase II single agent trial of alimta, in which a confirmed partial response was seen in 14.5% (9/62) of advance pleural mesothelioma patients. In this study, 62 chemonaive patients were enrolled with a 5.2:1 M/F ratio, median age of 67 years (range 40-80) stage III/IV disease (31%/54%), and subhistology of epidermal (74%), mixed (14%), or sarcamatoid (9%) involvement.

The median duration of response was +10.8 months, median time to progressive disease, 5.4 months, and median survival was 10.7 months. Hematologic toxicities were observed as grade 3 and 4 neutropenia in 14% of patients, and grade 3 thrombocytopenia in 1.7% of patients. At present, the most common non-hematological toxicity observed in patients included fatigue (10.9%), anorexia (5.9%), nausea (4.8%), and febrile neutropenia (4.8%)--only 1% of patients experienced grade 4 non-hematological toxicities.

Previous to this study, investigators found that vitamin supplementation with low-dose folic acid and vitamin B12 was capable of markedly reducing toxicity previously seen with alimta therapy. Accordingly, this phase II single agent trial of alimta included vitamin supplementation to help alleviate anticipated toxicities. With regard to folic acid and B12 supplementation, partial response results were 18% (5/40) for fully vitamin supplemented patients, 60% (3/5) for partially vitamin supplemented patients (patients who started supplementation after cycle one), and 5% (1/17) for non-vitamin supplemented patients.

Axel Hanauske, MD, Medical Director, Eli Lilly & Company presented results from an overall comparison of observed toxicities before and after the addition of vitamin supplements to alimta studies, in which 246 patients from 12 studies received no vitamin supplements and 78 patients from 3 studies received folic acid and vitamin B12 supplements. After adding vitamin supplementation to alimta trials, a dramatic decrease was seen in both hematologic and non-hematologic toxicities (37% before vs. 6.4% after), as well as a complete cessation of drug-related deaths since the vitamin supplementation started (7% before vs. 0% after).