A National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank to Improve Research
As the number of mesothelioma cases in our country continues to increase, the United States is striving to form a National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB), which would collect samples of mesothelioma pleural, peritoneal and pericardial tissues, along with blood and DNA samples. Once the samples have been collected, they would then be cataloged and made available for study through an online interface. The interface would then take newer findings and coordinate them to work in conjunction with existing cancer research.
While there is already a great deal of research being done, the bank will enable researchers everywhere to take their theoretical work and convert it into more practical approaches that could help patients much sooner.
The NMVB currently has three participating institutions: University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania, and New York University. The other participants supporting the NMVB include the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, University of Hawaii, University of Vermont, and Fox Chase Cancer Center.
If you would like to participate in the NMVB’s prospective study you must be 18 years old or older and be able to provide informed consent. This can usually be obtained at the doctor’s office, clinic visits or upon hospital admission.
People who are not eligible to participate in the study include people under the age of 18 and prisoner-patients, who are excluded due to federal limitations. Individuals will not be excluded due to race, ethnicity, gender, or HIV status.
If you would like more information on the NMVB click here.
My father, Mr. Norman H. Forin, passed away one year ago tomorrow at New York University Medical Center following a long, brave battle against malignant pleural mesothelioma. When my dad was diagnosed with meso, he and my mother lived in Florida but the family agreed that it was necessary to bring him to the New York area to see one of the best specialists in the field and we chose Dr. Harvey Pass at NYU. When it was determined that dad was not a candidate for surgerry, Dr Abraham Chachoua, ma medical oncologist took over his care and a course of
chemo was recommended. We were grateful that dad, 80 years old at the time, was able to manage the side effects and miraculously, scans showed improvement. Eventually, the chemo stopped working and the cancer began to spread and Dr. Pass suggested that dad might want to consider an experimental procedure whereby a sample of the tumor was taken and sent out to a lab in California where some tests were done to determine whether the cancer cells in dad’s body were sensitive to any type of chemo drug (whether available for meso or not). Dad was always in favor of trials and believed that even though Dr. Pass explained that this was almost a shot in the dark, that he might be doing some good for others down the road. The drugs that came up as possibly helpful for dad were ones that were either already used or too toxic for him but he did give one a try. The results were not great, the side effects very tough and we saw him deteriorate. However, he would not give up. We believe the tumor samples are contained in a “bank” and used or were used for research and we are very proud of our dad for his determination to help others as well as himself. He had been exposed to asbestos at the age of 16 when he left high school to work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to bring home money to the family and afterwards, he enlisted in the Navy and was exposed on the ships as well. I think what truly upsets our family the most is that our dad fought so hard and was willing to go the distance. He was still fighting and year ago. About a week before his death, he was admitted to the hospital with an infection and we were told that he was fine, just an infection that would be treated and he would be released. No one had any clue that this would turn into a nightmare of confused interns, specialists who weren’t called, staff who wouldn’t listen, nobody in charge, my father’s main doctors were out of the hospital at a meso conference and all the while my father’s condition deteriorated. It was a terrible situation because my father had a plan - he did not want to die in a hospital. He was going to be home - in our home where he lived with my mother the last 2 1/2 years of his life. We had secured hospice services and he didn’t have to die the way he did. It’s interesting that the death certificate from the hospital didn’t list mesothelioma as the cause of his death. For a man always willing to fight and give of himself even in the worst of times, noone in the hospital would take charge to see that my father was listened to or taken care of - as they told us, he was terminal.
He had been treated there under the direction of Dr Harvey Pass for malignant pleural mesothelioma and our family wishes to extend our appreciation to Dr. Pass and his staff for
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