One of the many mesothelioma community members on Facebook posted a question today about a clinical trial being conducted at the Mesothelioma Center, located at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. MyMeso discussed this clinical trial in a July post. The clinical trial is a program of targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the lung’s lining almost always caused by asbestos. In response to the Facebook thread, meso survivor and awareness advocate (read: warrior) Debbie Brewer, who many of you know from her story and updates here (thanks Debbie!), mentioned a similar study currently ongoing in Australia.

Debbie provided a link to a story published in November 2009 by ABC News that outlines the work of specialists at Austin Health Centre in Victoria. The treatment, spearheaded by Dr. Malcolm Feigen, a radiation oncologist at the Centre, uses high doses of radiotherapy, concentrated on specific areas of the lining of the lungs to target mesothelioma tumors.

According to the ABC report, 13 patients participated in a pilot program to test this new targeted radiotherapy treatment. Most had some surgery prior to the radiotherapy treatment, and some also had chemotherapy before or after the treatment, although Dr. Feigen believes the patients showed the most benefit primarily as a result of the radiotherapy regimen.

Participants in the U.S. clinical trial at the Mesothelioma Center receive a multi-modality therapy that incorporates surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in combination.

Listen to the interview with Dr. Feigen about the Australian research, which was broadcast on ABC’s AM morning current affairs program.

If you are a fan of the social networking site Facebook, I hope that you are linked into the many mesothelioma survivors, supporters, groups and victims that are posting regularly there. If you don’t already have a Facebook page, setting one up is easy. Just go to www.facebook.com and the easy instructions on the home page will walk you through the steps. There are lots of new and improved privacy controls that you can set so that you don’t have to share more information than you want to. The nice thing about Facebook is that you accept and approve “friends” who can see your information.

MyMeso has a Facebook page, and I invite you to join us. You can visit our page here: http://tinyurl.com/ydl5xhd

Our good friend Debbie Brewer in the UK is online on Facebook. Just search for her name and you’ll come to her profile. She recently has started a Facebook fan page for Dr. Thomas Vogl, the groundbreaking researcher who is pioneering chemoembolization as a treatment for mesothelioma. Those familiar with Debbie’s story know that she has had great success with chemoembolization under Dr. Vogl’s care. You can visit his page here:  http://tinyurl.com/yeq5969

There also is a group set up to honor Debbie herself! You can find it by clicking this link: http://tinyurl.com/ychey9g

There is a special event planned for this Friday, Jan. 15, to celebrate Debbie, as well. “Raise a Glass to Debbie” asks everyone to raise a toast in honor of Debbie’s work as an activist for mesothelioma awareness and the fight for a cure. The event will occur between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. and it doesn’t matter where in the world you are – the UK, the U.S., Australia, or any point on the globe – just join in!

There are so many wonderful support groups on Facebook. Two of these that my regular readers know I talk about a lot are the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) (find them here: http://tinyurl.com/ybhmn9j) and the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (http://tinyurl.com/ybv2uut).

It has been a difficult year for many in the mesothelioma family. Many have lost loved ones, or are facing a scary diagnosis. But 2009 also held a lot of good news. To illustrate that, I’d like to share a news article about our great friend in the UK, Debbie Brewer. Just after Christmas, Debbie was featured on the front page of The Herald, a newspaper that covers the Plymouth area. The paper describes Plymouth as a “hotspot for asbestos-related deaths.”

In the feature, Debbie talks about how she moved from what was presented to her as a death sentence to her new outlook of happiness, hope and survival. Debbie was diagnosed in November 2006, at which time she thought she might be seeing her last Christmas. Doctors estimated she had only six to nine months to live.

As most of you know, Debbie refused to accept the prognosis that she had only months to live, instead actively seeking alternative medical treatments that might take a fresh look at her cancer and provide her with new options. Primarily, she found Prof. Thomas Vogl at the University Clinic in Frankfurt, Germany, who administers a therapy called chemoembolization. In this therapy, chemotherapy drugs are introduced directly to the tumor area through a catheter into the lung.

Because the treatment is still in clinical trial stages, Debbie had to travel to Germany for each treatment, not available in the UK, and paid for travel expenses and medical care from her own pocket. However, results were amazing, and Debbie’s tumor shrunk by more than 80 percent, putting her in full remission.

Despite a recent setback, when a September check-up showed cancer in her lymph node had increased in size (the tumor in her lung remains stable), she is optimistic. She lobbies energetically for mesothelioma and asbestos awareness, and also to bring chemoembolization to the UK so that more people might try this new therapy that has shown so much success in her case.

The paper quotes Debbie as saying, “Christmas is the time of year I celebrate being here. ”

We love you, Debbie, and we are SO glad to celebrate another Christmas with you, and we look forward to spending 2010 with you!

Read the full article.

Everyone following Debbie Brewer’s story on this site knows that last December it was determined she was in remission from mesothelioma – a miracle! – following successful chemoembolization treatment in Germany. Then, in September, she received a worrying report that appeared to show growth in a lymph node in her chest, which showed up on a CT scan. Subsequent tests revealed that there was growth, which would require treatment.

This week, Debbie started radiotherapy on the lymph node. She tells me that the radiotherapy treatment is a 3-week course, Monday to Friday, and depending on how the lymph node responds could go to 5 or 6 weeks.

Doctors also did a biopsy on her right groin area, which was the site where Dr. Vogl introduced the chemoembolization procedure. There is some question about whether the mesothelioma could have seeded at the induction site. Debbie says Dr. Vogl – who is pioneering the chemoembolization treatment at the University in Frankfurt – is hopeful and optimistic that this is not the case. However, the treatment is still experimental, so it is hard to know what to expect, she says. The chemoembolization treatment was done six times, each time in the same area.

The biopsy was done on Tuesday, with doctors taking two samples. Debbie is now waiting on the results.

She is in good spirits and keeping a positive outlook, so I’m sure she’d appreciate the continued well wishes and encouragment. She promises to let us know when she receives the results. You can also read more about Debbie’s story, and the other goings-on in her life, at her own blog, Mesothelioma & Me.

A video that demonstrates the effects of asbestos in the lungs was recently brought to my attention by two sources. Our friend Debbie Brewer posted it to her Facebook, and then Linda Reinstein from the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization sent me a link, which I’m planning to post on my Twitter feed. This is one of the best dramatizations I’ve seen yet about how asbestos fibers enter the lungs, and how they can cause such conditions as asbestosis, pleural plaques, and mesothelioma.

If you have a Twitter account and would like to share this video, please re-Tweet @ Linda_ADAO Excellent 90 second video on asbestos fiber inhalation produced by ANROAV, AMRC and A-BAN http://tinyurl.com/yhqsdzd

Our good friend Debbie Brewer, in the UK, (pictured with sons Rich and Kieran) who has been in remission from her mesothelioma since December 2008, had a worrying report from her latest medical checkup. She visited her oncologist in the UK on Sept. 16, and they have detected some increase in size in her lymph node as the result of a CT scan of her chest, abdomen and pelvis.

“My oncologist is putting me in the Meso box again, and I am not going there,” she told me in an email this morning.

She’s posted the medical records on her blog, Mesothelioma & Me, so please visit her site to check out the full report. According to the findings section, the scan detected “a new 5mm nodule and several smaller new nodules withing the lower left lobe.” However, the scan does not show any growth or changes in the existing areas where they knew there was tumor previously.

It’s been a rough several weeks for Debbie, as she only recently was released from the hospital after suffering a bad case of swine flu and pneumonia! In her blog, she says she is hopeful the increased lymph node could be related to the infection and pneumonia from her illness rather than cancer cells.

Debbie experienced wonderful success in the treatment of her mesothelioma under the care of Dr. Thomas J. Vogl, who she began seeing in May 2008 for an experimental new treatment, chemoembolization. Under his care, her tumor (which she calls Theo) shrunk an amazing 83 percent. Debbie must travel to Germany to participate in the clinical trial at J.W. Goethe University Hospital at Frankfurt University.

Debbie said she has contacted Dr. Vogl about her latest test results, and will consult with him about treatment following a P.E.T. scan.

We know that Debbie is an ultimate fighter and wonderful advocate for mesothelioma awareness and for justice for victims of asbestos disease. Please send her some well wishes! You can contact her through her blog or email her at phu_phita@hotmail.com. I know she’d love to hear from you!

I will keep you posted!

I reported last week that Debbie Brewer, our friend in the UK, had another amazing report from Germany, where she has been undergoing chemoembolization to treat her mesothelioma. Her tumor has now shrunk a total of 83 percent! Debbie is sharing her experience with media in Britain, hoping to gain more widespread acceptance of chemoembolization as a treatment for meso, and to raise awareness that the therapy, currently in clinical trials, exists.

Debbie was diagnosed with mesothelioma in November 2006, at which time her doctor gave her only a few months to live. That was when Debbie began looking for new treatments. She began chemoembolization in May 2008.

Chemoembolization, which is being pioneered by Dr. Thomas J. Vogl at J.W. Goethe University Hospital at Frankfurt University, introduces chemotherapy directly into a tumor, where it is basically sealed off so that it is concentrated in the area of need. The clinical trial started three years ago, and will continue for about two more years. The treatment is only available at the clinic in Germany.

Recently, BBC News featured Debbie and her efforts to bring chemoembolization to the UK, and beyond.

Watch the video.

Today I heard from Debbie Brewer, our friend in the UK. She is just returned from another visit to Dr. Thomas Vogl in Germany, where she had wonderful success with the clinical trial for chemoembolization. She first visited Vogl for the treatment in May 2008. In March 2009, she found that her tumor had shrunk an amazing 73 percent since her first treatment. This week, she reports that even Dr. Vogl was surprised to see that Theo – as she nicknamed the tumor – had shrunk an additional 10 percent! That’s a total reduction of 83 PERCENT for those of you keeping score!

This is truly wonderful and amazing news, particularly for a cancer like mesothelioma, which has no known cure. This sounds pretty darn close for Debbie, who is considered in remission with this amount of tumor gone.

Those who have been following Debbie’s story and have read the Q&A with Dr. Vogl we posted on this site know that chemoembolization is a procedure currently in clinical trials. The process involves introducing chemotherapy directly to the tumor, and basically trapping it there, concentrating it where it is most needed. Dr. Vogl is head of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at J.W. Goethe University Hospital at Frankfurt University.

The clinical trial is currently treating between 300 and 400 patients with primary and secondary lung cancer annually, and about 20 mesothelioma patients.

For more information, see the Q&A with Dr. Vogl.

Read more of Debbie’s story at her blog, Mesothelioma & Me.

Our friend Debbie Brewer has reported that after her visit with Dr. Thomas J. Vogl in Germany this week, she can report that her tumor has shrunk an additional TWENTY PERCENT!! This is a total of 73 percent smaller than when she began the experimental chemoembolization process! Amazing!!

Even better, Debbie reports on her blog, Mesothelioma & Me, that a doctor in London is interested in bringing Professor Vogl to the UK to present his technique! Currently, this therapy is only available in Germany, where Dr. Vogl is pioneering the procedure for the treatment of cancer including mesothelioma at the University Clinic, Frankfurt.

Those who have been following Debbie’s story know she began chemoembolization under Dr. Vogl’s care in May 2008, and now she is essentially in remission! As a result of her success, Debbie is a vocal campaigner to bring the procedure to more widespread availability.

Debbie was just featured in The Plymouth Herald, speaking out about her success with chemoembolization and her efforts to bring the treatment to the UK. Doctors originally told Debbie she had only six to nine months to live at her original diagnosis.

There are a number of mesothelioma awareness events taking place throughout the UK today, on Action Mesothelioma Day. The commemorative event was established in 2006 by the British Lung Foundation, to raise awareness of mesothelioma and to improve the treatment and care of people affected by the disease.

To mark the establishment of the event in 2006 the British Lung Foundation delivered a Charter to the Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street, with more than 14,000 signatures. The Charter asks the government to support improved care and treatment of mesothelioma patients, better protection for employees, and more funding for resarch. You can sign the Charter!

In 2009, a goal of Action Mesothelioma Day is to ask the British government to establish an Asbestos Related Disease Research Centre. There is a list of Action Mesothelioma Day 2009 Events at the British Lung Foundation web site.

Of course our friend Debbie Brewer will be active in today’s events, including speaking about Alternative Treatment in Mesothelioma at an event presented by the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund (MKMRF).

She also will join Jackie Lowe of the Roger Lowe Asbestos Mesothelioma Campaign to plant snowdrops in memory of those that have died of mesothelioma. The snowdrops will be planted at Saltram House, where last year Debbie and Jackie planted a tree to honor mesothelioma patients.

The MKMRF uses the snowdrop flower as its symbol, because it works through the depths of despair in the winter to push through the ground in spring to bloom. It represents hope and a promise for the future, and has come to be a symbol of mesothelioma awareness among groups in the UK.