Mesothelioma victims have had little or no successful treatment options over the last decade. While no new mainstream effective treatments exists, a new treatment for relieving the pain of Mesothelioma patients is currently being used in Northern England.

The treatment is called Cordotomy. Cordotomy is a surgical procedure that disables selective pain nerves in the neck. This means that through surgery, doctors can cut off the pain that Asbestos caused cancer creates in its patients. The exciting facet of Cordotomy is two fold. One, being that it is effective when pain killing drugs like Morphine are ineffective. Two, being that doctors can selectively cut off particular pain receptors in the body, as a result the entire body is not numbed down.

The Royal Oldham hospital in Northern England is one of the first to use the Cordotomy procedure in England. They are investing 50,000 pounds in order to finance the equipment used for the Cordotomy procedure. This investment is being done at a time when Mesothelioma cases expected to increase exponentially over the coming years.

Even though there is not a cure for Mesothelioma, at least science is finding resources in order to make this tragic cancer easier to live with. Hopefully the success of Cordotomy is a stepping stone towards a cure.

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. This disease predominately effects industrial workers who were exposed to asbestos on a day to day basis pre 1980's. Victims of Mesothelioma usually develop the Pleural form, but others develop the Peritoneal form, which is a cancer of the lining of the abdomen. Currently, cancer caused by asbestos have little if any effective treatment options. Treatment such as chemotherapy and surgery just prolong the lives of Mesothelioma patients, but do not cure them. The immune system is one of the tools used to treat asbestos caused cancer but has shown little or no results. The bodies immune system is a powerful tool that fights bacteria and viruses. Viruses and bacteria have special proteins called antigens that warn the immune system of any dangers in the body. Once the immune system is alerted, it sends out killer T cells, which in turn destroy the viruses or bacteria.

When fighting cancer, the immune system is not as effective. Cancer cells have antigens just like bacteria and viruses; however, these cells have built multiple defenses in order to survive a killer T cell attack. Cancer manipulates the bodies immune response. The antigens might find a crack in the carcinogen cells defenses, but these same cells will automatically find other means of blocking the killer T cells attack. This is a never ending process, which the cancer cells usually win out.

This is all about to change. Scientists are finding ways to effectively use the immune system to fight Mesothelioma. By injecting Toll-like receptor agonists directly into the cancer, the immune system is tricked into thinking that there is imminent threat in the body. In essence, Toll-like receptor agonists imitate the immune's response to a virus, which if used against cancer will in theory kill it. Tests have shown that this treatment is effective in mice. One test has shown that forty percent of cancer infected mice that were injected with toll-like receptor agonists were completely cured.

It is too early to tell if the above treatment will be a success, but it is a beacon of hope for Mesothelioma patients who currently have little or no treatment options.

In British Columbia, a survey has found that over three hundred people will die per year over the next five years by Mesothelioma. Construction workers who have worked with asbestos for years at a time will be the most affected by this disease. Specifically, the insulation industry will be the hardest hit. Many workers recall making carloads of asbestos, which was used in making insulation back in the 50's and 60's. At the time this material as a harmless product that in the end helped pay their bills. The result of being surrounded by this material for weeks and years on end are devastating; devastating meaning death.

Even though Mesothelioma claims are not as high as the B.C. survey suggest, it must be noted that this cancer is now starting to spike in Canada and has a good possibility of reaching the "survey" numbers in the next few years. The discrepancy can also be explained by Mesothelioma 20-50 latency period. Only time will tell if the survey numbers are correct, but hopefully they are not and a cure for Mesothelioma is right around the corner.

Thalidomide is a well know morning sickness drug that caused an untold amount of birth defects in the 50's and 60's.   Even though this drug has caused much pain and suffering in the mid 1900's, it still has potential as a cancer fighting treatment.  Its most notable asset is that can inhibit blood vessel growth within tumors. 

Thalidomide is currently being tested to fight Mesothelioma in patients in Australia.  The tests will be done on a group of one hundred patients.  It will compare those that have received chemotherapy to treat their cancer and those who have received standard Mesothelioma treatments and the drug Thalidomide to treat there cancer.  One of the objectives is to discover if adding Thalidomide to standard treatment can prolong the lives and standard of life for Mesothelioma victims.

This research is extremely important due to the number of rising Mesothelioma patients combined with the fact that these asbestos exposed victims have limited treatment options.  Prolonging  life one to three months would be a victory in treating asbestos caused cancer.