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CITY MEDICS TO LEAD ASBESTOS CANCER BATTLE

Medics have revealed plans to make Derby a specialist centre for tackling a deadly disease from the city's industrial past.

Mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos, has killed at least 300 Derbyshire people in the past 30 years.

Although it is a rare condition, the county is considered a hotspot because of its history of heavy engineering.

And experts predict a surge in numbers in the next five to 10 years because of the disease's long incubation period.

Last week, the Evening Telegraph revealed how some experts feared not all patients got the best treatment, and how more research was needed into the fatal condition.

Now, staff at Derby Hospitals Trust have revealed that they want to set up what would be the UK's ninth specialist centre for tackling mesothelioma.

Derby could see clinical trials of new drugs held here for the first time.

Specialists would have to keep up to date with the latest developments in treating mesothelioma.

And it may eventually attract new funds for research and treatment to Derby.

The centre will be staffed by leading medical experts from Derbyshire Royal Infirmary and a specialist surgeon from Nottingham City Hospital.

Dr Ruth Aldridge, a respiratory consultant at Derby Hospitals Trust, said the centre could be set up within six months.

She said: "We want to provide people who have this aggressive cancer with the best possible care and we feel that becoming a mesothelioma specialist centre will help us stay up to date and at the forefront of management."

Liz Darlison, a nurse consultant at advice group Mesothelioma UK, said it was great news for people in Derbyshire that there would be a specialist centre in the county.

Ms Darlison said: "It has to be reassuring for people that their local hospital is going to be a specialist centre and will offer the most up-to-date treatment and care.

"It's likely that it would want to be involved in clinical trials and it will be at the forefront of any developments."

Colin Frayn-Elliott, of Greenhill Lane, Riddings, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma last May, said it was appropriate for the city to have a specialist centre, given Derby's industrial past.

The 60-year-old had surgery at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester - one of the other eight UK specialist centres. The operation is predicted to extend his life by 18 months.

Mr Frayn-Elliott said: "To have a specialist centre here would be excellent. I was treated at a specialist centre and you get the top treatment available. Both the doctors and nurses knew their stuff. They help you stay positive."

Last week, Dr Mick Peake, a national expert on mesothelioma, told the Evening Telegraph that standards of care for sufferers were patchy.

He also called for more research to be carried out into how to detect and treat the disease.

We reported how hundreds of people in Derbyshire have pleural plaques that can be a precursor to mesothelioma.

One in seven people with pleural plaques - scarring of the lungs caused by long-term exposure to asbestos - go on to develop mesothelioma.

Pleural plaques sufferer Terry Allcock, of Parkside Road, Chaddesden, said: "Whatever they can do for people who have this tragic disease has got to be good.

"If the hospital is keeping up to date with all the research, then I think they would be more likely to detect it early if you got it.

Derby Hospitals is currently one of 125 lung-cancer centres in England.

Last year, the Department of Health published the Mesothelioma Framework report, with a vision of making 25 of these lung centres into specialist units for mesothelioma.

Derby already has a team of experts in the trust with a special interest in mesothelioma but taking on this title would give it national recognition.

Today, at 1pm, black balloons were to be released in Derby's Market Place to remember those who have been made ill through exposure to asbestos.

It was part of a day-long event held at Derby Assembly Rooms for Action Mesothelioma Day.

A video called The Human Face Of An Asbestos Epidemic was to be shown on the large screen.

Source - DERBYTELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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