Dr. Harvey Pass on Mesothelioma Hotspots and Growing Epidemic

These hotspots are not confined to the United States; in the Latrobe valley of Australia close to Melbourne, a mesothelioma epidemic is emerging. Where will the next hotspot turn up the developing nations?

Ladies and gentlemen, mesothelioma is still laughing at us but it is starting to look over its shoulder.

The disease still has many secrets which it only begrudgingly gives to clinicians and investigators….however, the clinicians and investigators across the United States who treat patients with this disease have one weapon against this nightmare which mesothelioma never counted on: steadfastness of purpose in destroying the nihilism which protects this disease from discovery.

This steadfastness has resulted from a unity of purpose with formal yet collegial collaborative teams which have formed to either study the reasons why this disease develops, how to detect this disease earlier, or how to more effectively destroy this disease.

The days of disjointed, individual efforts for this disease by individual institutions has been replaced by formal advocacy foundations such as the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation and other mesothelioma advocacy groups which not only serve as a patient resource, but also to fund the newest ideas for the management of this disease.

The only way in which mesothelioma can be harnessed is with an approach which is independent of politics, independent of physician or legal self gain, and which is with interactive discourse among Centers of Excellence which have devoted their energies to this killer.

Because of these interactions, collaborations across this country between clinics and universities, hospitals and industry ….collaborations unheard of ten years ago……are focusing on using the newest technologies of genomics and proteomics to find this disease earlier, expose its Achilles heel, and enthusiastically design new molecules which can rapidly be put into large trials for these patients who so desperately want to hear “we have something exciting for you to consider”.

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