Cleveland Clinic Studies Radiation-induced Mesothelioma

James Stevenson, M.D., renowned oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic, didn't need to see the recent study to know the face of malignant pleural mesothelioma was changing. He sees it in his waiting room all the time. While occupational exposure to asbestos, which is still the No. 1 cause of the rare disease, continues dropping significantly, the rate of mesothelioma remains steady. And the patients don't look the same anymore. Other causes, it seems, are emerging, and they may be rising. "The general thinking is that these non-asbestos related cases will increase as we move forward," said Stevenson, a mesothelioma specialist who brought his expertise to Cleveland in 2012 from the Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia. "We all sense there are going to be more of these, even if the hard numbers don't show it yet." Mesothelioma Patients with No Asbestos Exposure Stevenson recently treated two women in their mid-50s, both nonsmokers who had worked in offices with no known asbestos problems. Neither woman was aware of any asbestos in their homes, the homes where they grew up or about any secondhand exposure from parents who could have inadvertently brought asbestos home. "They had no reason to even think they were ever exposed," Stevenson said. All were stunned by a diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma. Mesothelioma specialists across the country often talk about the changing demographics of their patients: They are younger, the percentage of female patients is rising and ther...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news