On July 22 and 23rd, the mesothelioma community once again gathered at the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation’s International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma (also known more simply as “the Symposium” among community members). The Symposium is a unique mesothelioma conference that provides patients and their families with direct access to experts, in addition to bringing together everyone working toward the common cause. This was the first time this event was held in person since 2019. The 2020 conference, which was set to take place in San Antonio in April of 2020, had to be canceled due to the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Due to this three-year gap, the event was highly anticipated by all, and needed to fulfill several needs. To maximize on this time together, the event combined a community conference, a board meeting and a strategic planning session for the organization, a scientific conference, and a welcome reception. Most events were organized in a hybrid fashion between in-person and virtual to enable even those unable to travel to participate.
If you had to miss the event, don’t worry! We have photos and videos to share with you so you can still get all of the valuable information that was shared.
The day of the conference began with welcome remarks by Julie Powers, Executive Director together with Dr. Daniel Sterman who is a member of the board of the Foundation. After the welcome, medical professionals gathered in a meeting of their own just down the hallway where they discussed important, albeit sometimes controversial, topics in mesothelioma treatment and research. The scientific session was fully recapped at the very end of the conference (scroll all the way down to see that video) by the chair of the board of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, Dr. Marjorie G. Zauderer (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). Meanwhile, our bereaved community gathered together in their own space next door for a Celebration of Life ceremony and support groups.
From there, we jumped straight into mesothelioma science and treatment with an overview of terms and concepts, presented by Shannon Sinclair, RN, BSN, OCN. This session is not only useful to patients and caregivers as they navigate their diagnosis and treatment, but is an excellent resource especially for anyone
Next up was a presentation about systemic therapies for pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma presented by Dr. Hedy Kindler, University of Chicago, who is renown expert in mesothelioma treatment.
Peritoneal patients and those with bicameral disease might find the next session extremely useful. Presented by world experts in the field, Dr. Kiran Turaga of the University of Chicago, and Dr. Travis Grotz of the Mayo Clinic, this session covered all aspects of treatment, with a heavy focus on surgery, HIPEC, and intraperitoneal chemotherapy.
Dr. Raffit Hassan of the National Cancer Institute gave a thorough overview of clinical trials and considerations for patients and their families as they evaluate them.
For mesothelioma patients, management of symptoms of disease before and during treatment, side-effects during treatment, and long term effects of treatment plays an important role in improving quality of life. Certain treatments, in particular, have predicable and easily managed side-effects that with proper communication between patient and provider can be close to eliminated. The following session addresses these topics in detail.
Due to a canceled flight on the morning of the conference, Dr. Joseph Friedberg who is currently at Temple University was not able to join us in person. However, with the advances in every day technology spurred by the pandemic, he was still able to present to a full conference room directly from his home office. And we are very grateful for it because his presentation is a must-watch for everyone because it addresses diagnostic and palliative procedures, as well as therapeutic ones.
While advances in mesothelioma treatment are being made across all disciplines, the agreement among experts is that understanding the drivers of disease in each individual will be crucial to identifying the ideal treatment option. Already today our knowledge in genetics and the tumor microenvironment is helping experts better understand why some patients respond to certain treatments and other don’t. For certain patients with specific genetic mutations, this knowledge is also helpful in screening for other cancers to which they themselves or their family members may be susceptible. This next session gives us a glimpse into these issues.
No mesothelioma conference would be complete without a session on radiation therapy for mesothelioma. This modality is generally used in combination with other treatment types such as surgery. This session is presented by Dr. Charles Simone of NY Proton Center, and Dr. Keith Cengel of the University of Pennsylvania and they give us a detailed view into different applications for radiation therapy in mesothelioma.
As mentioned earlier, at the end of the conference, the chair of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation board, Dr. Marjorie G. Zauderer, gave a detailed overview of the conversations that scientists had in their closed session just down the hallway. These conversations are important as they set the stage for what comes next in development of advances toward effective and enduring mesothelioma treatments.
Last, but not least, mesothelioma patients don’t just face a steep learning curve in terms of the medical aspect of their disease. Quite often, they are also thrown into complex legal situations. While the Foundation does not have any expertise in asbestos litigation, our legal sponsors MRHFM and the Gori Firm shared their expertise with our attendees.
