Biofeedback May Improve Quality of Life for Cancer Patients

One of the most worrisome aspects of undergoing cancer treatment is the impending threat of diminished quality of life. Fortunately, many patients can improve their quality of life by engaging in a number of relaxation techniques. Relaxation techniques are often used to help ease treatment side effects, pain, and the emotional issues that come with living with cancer. One relaxation method called Biofeedback has been studied since the 1970s, but it did not reach the mainstream until recently. However, researchers say it is still underutilized.

Biofeedback belongs to a collection of behavioral, psychological, social, and spiritual techniques that are used to preserve health and prevent or cure disease. Called “Mind-Body Medicine,” the collection includes techniques such as Acupuncture, Guided Imagery, Hypnotherapy, Meditation, Bodywork, Massage, Breathwork and more. Also referred to as “Alternative” or “Complementary,” mind-body medicine such as biofeedback is now supported by a significant amount of scientific evidence that says there are numerous benefits to incorporating it into a cancer patient’s treatment plan. Continue reading →

One of the most worrisome aspects of undergoing cancer treatment is the impending threat of diminished quality of life. Fortunately, many patients can improve their quality of life by engaging in a number of relaxation techniques. Relaxation techniques are often used to help ease treatment side effects, pain, and the emotional issues that come with living with cancer. One relaxation method called Biofeedback has been studied since the 1970s, but it did not reach the mainstream until recently. However, researchers say it is still underutilized.

Biofeedback belongs to a collection of behavioral, psychological, social, and spiritual techniques that are used to preserve health and prevent or cure disease. Called “Mind-Body Medicine,” the collection includes techniques such as Acupuncture, Guided Imagery, Hypnotherapy, Meditation, Bodywork, Massage, Breathwork and more. Also referred to as “Alternative” or “Complementary,” mind-body medicine such as biofeedback is now supported by a significant amount of scientific evidence that says there are numerous benefits to incorporating it into a cancer patient’s treatment plan.

According to Dr. Roger S. Cicala, Medical Director of The Methodist Comprehensive Cancer Institute and author of The Cancer Pain Sourcebook, biofeedback can teach a person how to control many of the involuntary functions of the body. Using this technique, patients can learn how to control blood pressure, muscle tension, heart rate, temperature, perspiration and even emotions.

Approved by an independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a complementary therapy for treating chronic pain, biofeedback uses monitoring devices to provide biofeedback information so that the person can adjust his or her thinking and other mental processes in order to control bodily functions, says the American Cancer Society (ACS). A biofeedback therapist guides the patient as he concentrates on changing a specific physiological process ranging from brain activity to heart rate to muscle tension. According to ACS:

A monitor hooked via electrodes to the patient’s skin measures changes in whichever function is to be altered. Tones or images produced by the monitor inform the patient when he or she achieves the desired results. The process is repeated as often as necessary until the patient can reliably use conscious thought to change physical functions.

Body functions for biofeedback purposes are measured in at least five different ways:

  • Breathing Rate: promotes relaxation
  • Electrodermal Activity (EDM): shows changes in perspiration rates, used for treating anxiety
  • Electromyogram (EMG): measures muscle tension, also helps heal muscle injuries, relieve chronic pain, and some types of incontinence
  • Finger Pulse Measurements: used to reflect high blood pressure, heart beat irregularities, and anxiety
  • Thermal Biofeedback: provides information about skin temperature, good indicator of blood flow, which helps treat headaches, anxiety, and high blood pressure

While biofeedback does not affect the development or progression of cancer, as stated, research shows that it can improve the quality of life for some people with cancer. This is a safe, inexpensive, and noninvasive technique that requires little effort. It typically takes five to fifteen sessions before a patient achieves effective control.

To learn a more about biofeedback or to find a certified biofeedback practitioner, visit the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) here.

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Alcoholism Drug Could Help Combat Mesothelioma

Researchers may have discovered a dual use for an old drug. Sold under the name “Antabuse,” Disulfiram (dye sul’ fi ram) has been used to treat chronic alcoholism since the 1949, but it was not approved by the FDA until 1951. However, this unique medicine was the very first drug approved by the FDA to treat alcoholism.

Disulfiram works by producing extremely unpleasant side effects when the patient consumes alcohol. These effects include anxiety, blurred vision, chest pain, choking, difficulty breathing, flushing of the face, headache, mental confusion, nausea, sweating, vomiting, and weakness. A patient on Disulfiram will experience these effects within 10 minutes of consuming alcohol and they typically last for an hour or more. Continue reading →

Researchers may have discovered a dual use for an old drug. Sold under the name Antabuse, Disulfiram (dye sul’ fi ram) has been used to treat chronic alcoholism since 1949, but it was not approved by the FDA until 1951. However, this unique medicine was the very first drug approved by the FDA to treat alcoholism.

Disulfiram works by producing extremely unpleasant side effects when the patient consumes alcohol. These effects include anxiety, blurred vision, chest pain, choking, difficulty breathing, flushing of the face, headache, mental confusion, nausea, sweating, vomiting, and weakness. A patient on Disulfiram will experience these effects within 10 minutes of consuming alcohol and they typically last for an hour or more.

While the drug is not a cure for alcoholism, the “psychological threat” of the side effects associated with it has discouraged thousands of former alcoholics from drinking. Currently, more than 200,000 patients take Antabuse for the treatment of chronic alcoholism, up from 50 patients in 1949. Now, researchers hope to have the same success with treating patients afflicted with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

A recent study, conducted by the doctors of Wayne State School of Medicine-Department of Oncology, Harbin Institute of Technology (Harbin, China), New York University Cancer Center, and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, reported that Dithiocarbamate compound Disulfiram (DSF) that binds with copper (DSF-Cu) possesses anti-tumor chemosensitizing properties. In the study researchers investigated malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) suppressive effects of DSF-Cu and the molecular mechanisms involved. So far, the team has concluded that:

Intra-peritoneal administration of DSF-Cu suppressed growth of murine mesothelioma allografts in part by enhancing apoptosis. Our proof-of-concept studies reveal, for the first time, MPM inhibitory properties of DSF-Cu and are expected to facilitate utilization of this agent or its potent derivatives as potential adjuvant for treatment and perhaps chemoprevention of MPM.

Other studies have shown that Antabuse is also effective against colon, breast, and lung cancer cells.

Although further research is needed, the latest findings offer promise in the area of advancing mesothelioma treatment. To review the entire study, please visit PLOS One here.

What Causes Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma?

Asbestos exposure is the only known cause of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure occurs when someone encounters asbestos fibers in the workplace, at home, and in the environment. When inhaled, asbestos fibers can travel all the way to the pleura, the lining of the lung and chest wall, where, according to 100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma, the fibers may irritate and injure the cells.

This can lead to the development of calcium containing plate-like structures on the pleural lining (pleural plaques), fibrosis (scar tissue formation), or mesothelioma. These same fibers can also damage cells in the lung itself, which can lead to asbestosis (scar tissue in the lung).

Around 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Although cases in the U.S. have decreased slightly since the 1990s, the rate of mesothelioma is on the rise in many other countries where the mineral is still mined, processed, imported, exported, and used in manufacturing products. In the U.S., the EPA has placed firm restrictions on asbestos, but it is still not banned.

Sources

100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma, Second Edition
Harvey I. Pass, MD, NYU School of Medicine and Clinical Cancer Center
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
American Cancer Society
Encyclopedia.com, Medical Discoveries
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) U.S. Federal Bans on Asbestos
MedlinePlus, Disulfiram
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)
PLOS One, Open Access Journal

Journal Reference

Cheriyan VT, Wang Y, Muthu M, Jamal S, Chen D, et al. (2014) Disulfiram Suppresses Growth of the Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Cells in Part by Inducing Apoptosis. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93711. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093711.

Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise Against Mesothelioma

New research shows that a new and unique approach to cancer immunotherapy may improve survival in patients with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. Immunotherapy is used to stimulate the body’s immune system against cancer. For example, according to the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, vaccines comprised of antigens derived from tumor cells can boost the body’s production of antibodies or immune cells (T lymphocytes). Extracts of weakened tuberculosis bacteria (which are known to boost the immune system) have been successful when introduced into the bladder to prevent bladder tumors. Continue reading →

Very high magnification micrograph of a malignant epithelioid mesothelioma
Malignant epithelioid mesothelioma

New research shows that a new and unique approach to cancer immunotherapy may improve survival in patients with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. Immunotherapy is used to stimulate the body’s immune system against cancer. For example, according to the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, vaccines comprised of antigens derived from tumor cells can boost the body’s production of antibodies or immune cells (T lymphocytes). Extracts of weakened tuberculosis bacteria (which are known to boost the immune system) have been successful when introduced into the bladder to prevent bladder tumors.

Now, a team of researchers with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report that “a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions, slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in animal models of both tumors.” The team, which includes senior author of the report and Director of the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center Dr. Mark Poznansky, created a vaccine that stimulates a patient’s own dendritic cells, rather than utilizing the standard approach that requires “extracting a patient’s own immune cells, priming them with tumor antigens and returning them to the patient,” says Poznansky. Dr. Poznansky adds that the latter process is considered complicated and costly, and offers a poor prognosis.

The body’s dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells that, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), mediate several physiologic components of immunogenicity (the ability to produce an immune response) such as the acquisition of antigens in tissues, the migration to lymphoid organs, and the identification and activation of antigen-specific T cells.

According to the study, the MGH team’s approach begins with the engineered protein, which in this case fuses an antibody fragment targeting a protein called mesothelin — expressed on the surface of such tumors as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer — to a protein from the tuberculosis bacteria that stimulates the activity of dendritic and other immune cells. In this system, the dendritic cells are activated and targeted against tumor cells while remaining inside the patient’s body.

The team concluded that the mesothelin-targeted fusion protein attaches to mesothelin on mesothelioma (or ovarian cancer) cells, then activates dendritic cells, and enhances the cells’ processing and presentation of several different tumor antigens, inducing a number of T-cell-based immune responses.

In animal studies including both types of tumors, treatment with the fusion protein slowed tumor growth and extended survival significantly. The team concluded that this is likely the result of the activity of cytotoxic CD8 T cells. Cytotoxic CD8 T cells monitor all the cells of the human body. They are equipped to destroy any others that express foreign antigen fragments in their class I molecules.

The MGH team notes that, like other types of immunotherapy, this innovative cancer vaccine is nontoxic, it may offer a better survival rate than other vaccines, it’s a lower cost approach to treating cancer, and it even has the potential to lower the risk of cancer recurrence. Researchers also believe that in the future this approach could ultimately be used to target any type of cancer.

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Mesothelioma Survivor Stories

Around 2,000-3,000 new mesothelioma cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Of these cases, around 70 to 80 percent of the patients have been heavily exposed to asbestos and the vast majority of cases are in men over the age of 65. In fact, it is estimated that men are anywhere from 4 to 5 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than women. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), this is likely because men are more likely to have worked in jobs with heavy exposure to asbestos. Continue reading →

Around 2,000-3,000 new mesothelioma cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Of these cases, around 70 to 80 percent of the patients have been heavily exposed to asbestos and the vast majority of cases are in men over the age of 65. In fact, it is estimated that men are anywhere from 4 to 5 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than women. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), this is likely because men are more likely to have worked in jobs with heavy exposure to asbestos.

With statistics like these, people are often baffled when they hear that a woman or anyone in their 30s has been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Unfortunately, even though this condition is rarely found in women and the young, it can happen and it is usually the result of second-hand exposure. Such was the case for a Minnesota woman who discovered she had the disease at the age of 36.

Just three months after giving birth to her daughter, Heather Von St. James was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, rare form of cancer that affects the lining of the lung and chest wall (pleura). Pleural mesothelioma may also spread into the pericardium (the sheet of tissue covering the heart), which is very close to the pleura. Naturally, the diagnosis stunned the Roseville, Minnesota mom who didn’t know much about asbestos or mesothelioma. Soon, however, Von St. James discovered where she had been exposed to asbestos and it wasn’t in the workplace.

Von St. James grew up in South Dakota as the daughter of a construction worker. In a news story featured on ABC 5 Eyewitness News, KSTP (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Von St. James says she used to wear her father’s coat when he came home from work because, she says, “it felt good to me and it was something I loved to do.” Her father often worked on demolition and clean up jobs which left his clothes, shoes, and car covered in gray, crusty asbestos dust. It was this second-hand asbestos dust that gave Von St. James cancer.

In her mid-30s, Von St. James felt a weight that she described as “a truck parked”on her chest. She couldn’t breathe. After being diagnosed with mesothelioma, Von St. James underwent an extrapleural pneumonectomy to remove her left lung. Today, Von St. James is an eight-year mesothelioma survivor and she shares her story to help raise awareness about the disease and the dangers of asbestos.

Asbestos Today

Although asbestos is heavily regulated in the U.S. and banned in 44 countries, the manufacture, importation, processing and distribution of the following products is still legal:

  • Automatic transmission components
  • Brake blocks
  • Cement corrugated sheet
  • Cement flat sheet
  • Cement pipe
  • Cement shingle
  • Clothing
  • Clutch facings
  • Disk brake pads
  • Drum brake linings
  • Friction materials
  • Gaskets
  • Millboard
  • Non-roofing coatings
  • Pipeline wrap
  • Roof coatings
  • Roofing felt
  • Vinyl floor tile

For more information about asbestos regulations in the U.S., visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 2.epa.gov/asbestos/us-federal-bans-asbestos.

Sources

ABC 5 Eyewitness News, KSTP-Minneapolis/St. Paul
American Cancer Society
American Lung Association
Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association (ACPMA), New Delhi
Cancer Research UK
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Thoracic Surgery

Unconventional Mesothelioma Treatments Offer Encouragement

Mesothelioma treatments have come a long way over the years, yet the disease still remains one of the most aggressive forms of cancer in the world. Oncologists, researchers, and scientists collectively agree that a disease this aggressive must also be handled aggressively. As such, these specialists advocate adopting a multi-modality approach to treatment to include… Continue reading →

Mesothelioma treatments have come a long way over the years, yet the disease still remains one of the most aggressive forms of cancer in the world. Oncologists, researchers, and scientists collectively agree that a disease this aggressive must also be handled aggressively. As such, these specialists advocate adopting a multi-modality approach to treatment to include newer therapies and innovative new technologies that offer mesothelioma patients the best chance of long-term survival. In fact, researchers at Universiteit Antwerpen in Belgium recently published an article in the European Respiratory Journal which stated, “Single modality therapy does not have a major impact on long-term survival.” While current research does not discount conventional forms of treatment such as standard chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy, and surgery, the research team says newer therapies “are among those that are most likely to have a positive impact in the treatment of mesothelioma.” Some of the most promising newer therapies currently being explored include:

  • Gene Therapy
  • Hyperthermic Intrapleural Chemotherapy
  • Immunotherapy
  • Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI):

Gene Therapy

Gene Therapy attempts to add new genes to cancer cells to make them easier to kill. One approach to gene therapy uses special viruses that have been modified in the lab. The virus is injected into the pleural space and infects the mesothelioma cells. Early studies have found that this approach may shrink or slow the growth of mesothelioma in some people.

Hyperthermic Intrapleural Chemotherapy

Hyperthermic Intrapleural Chemotherapy aims to make cancer cells at the pleural surface more sensitive to radiation and chemotherapy or to damage other cancer cells that radiation has been ineffective at harming.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy may help prompt the immune system to attack the cancer. In one approach, immune cells are removed from a patient’s blood and treated in the lab to get them to react to tumor cells. The immune cells are then given back to the patient as blood transfusions, where it is hoped they will cause the body’s immune system to attack the cancer.

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)

Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) involves injecting a light-activated drug into a vein. The drug spreads throughout the body and tends to collect in cancer cells. A few days later (usually just after surgery for the mesothelioma), a special red light on the end of a tube is placed into the chest cavity. The light causes a chemical change that activates the drug and causes the cancer cells to die. Because the drug is only active in the areas exposed to the special light, this approach may cause fewer side effects than the use of drugs that spread throughout all tissues of the body. In addition to safety and effectiveness, these newer, experimental therapies are currently being tested in clinical trials for their effectiveness in reducing the likelihood of malignant mesothelioma tumors returning.

For in-progress, currently recruiting, and completed mesothelioma clinical trials, visit ClinicalTrials.gov — a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, the attorney’s at Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. can help. Contact us today to schedule a free, no-obligation case evaluation at 800-782-8492 (toll-free) or email us. We look forward to discussing your case.

Sources

  • 100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma, Second Edition
    Harvey I. Pass, MD, NYU School of Medicine and Clinical Cancer Center
  • American Cancer Society (ACS)
    Cancer.org
  • Clinical Trials.gov–a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) ClinicalTrials.gov
  • Mesothelioma Community
    MesotheliomaNet
  • U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), PubMed (European Respiratory Journal article published/PubMed ahead of print) NCBI.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed