A remarkable breakthrough in the treatment of a previously untreatable cancer has helped a woman, given only months to live two years ago, survive mesothelioma.



Debbie Brewer was diagnosed with the asbestos related disease in 2006 and was given a poor prognosis. She had contracted the illness from hugging her father, an asbestos lagger at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth in the 1960s.

Instead of opting for the standard chemotherapy, she decided to use the compensation money paid out to her by the Ministry of Defence to travel to Germany and take part in pioneering research into the treatment of the disease. Professor Thomas Vogl of The University Clinic in Frankfurt has been carrying out an experimental treatment for this particularly aggressive form of cancer. It uses a treatment known as chemoembolisation, more commonly used to fight liver cancer, which introduces chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumour area through a catheter into the lung.

Mrs Brewer used her compensation to pay for six sessions at the clinic, and has now been told that her tumour has shrunk by more than half, is in remission and will not come back. Mrs Brewer has now started a campaign to have the treatment brought to the UK for trials. Each session costs £3,500.

This isn't the only breakthrough in the treatment of mesothelioma, which up until now has been untreatable and always fatal. The cancer is particularly aggressive, attacking the lungs, heart and abdomen and is directly linked to exposure to asbestos. A recent study published in The Cochrane Library (a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organisation that evaluates medical research) has shown that a combination of treatments rather than just one cancer drug has a marked effect on the cancer. Researchers led by John Green MD at the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology have carried out a study where patients suffering from mesothelioma were given a combination of Pemetrexed and Cisplatin, two chemotherapy drugs. They were also given vitamin supplements, particularly folic acid and vitamin B12. Those receiving the combination of drugs survived nearly three months longer than those receiving Cisplatin alone.

The number of claims for asbestos related cancer are set to rise over the next 30 to 40 years as more cases resulting from exposure to asbestos up to 40 years ago develop. The disease takes at least 15 years to develop, which can sometimes make a claim difficult to pursue. Often the original company has gone out of business or those responsible have retired. Compensation claims in mesothelioma cases are often awarded posthumously because of the difficulty of treating the cancer and prolonging the life of the victim. With at least two new treatment methods being developed, it is finally looking as though there is a new weapon in the fight against the disease. However, the problem lies in the cost of the treatment. A course of six treatments of Professor Vogl's method would cost £21,000 - a prohibitive amount for most sufferers and health authorities to afford. The length of time that compensation claims for asbestos related mesothelioma take to go through the courts may mean that victims cannot afford to pay for the treatment until it is too late.

The government has recognised the fact that asbestos exposure has been proven to cause the disease, and specialist compensation claims are starting to move much more quickly. This means that victims of this aggressive cancer finally have a better chance at being able to afford effective treatment. Although ongoing trials in the effectiveness of these new treatments mean that it may be some time before the treatment is widely available, those who can afford to finance the treatment face a much more positive prognosis. The initial cost will make it prohibitively expensive for many health authorities to be able to offer on the NHS any time soon. But as the costs come down and the effectiveness of the treatment is proven by other cases, it means that at last there is hope for the thousands of people currently suffering from mesothelioma, and those whom have yet to face that ticking time bomb themselves.