Looking into the 'Cancer Cluster' Among Former Phillies
- Since 2003, six former Phillies have died of an aggressive form of brain cancer.
- Earlier this year, former pitcher David West was the latest to tragically pass away. He was just 57 years old.
- When it comes to environmental links to cancer, it’s very difficult to prove that any one chemical is responsible for anyone’s cancer diagnosis.
- Some have questioned whether the Phillies’ former home Veterans Stadium could be linked to the perplexing spike in cancer diagnoses.
West’s death followed catcher Darren Daulton, who died in 2017, infielder John Vukovich (2007), catcher Johnny Oats (2004), and pitchers Tug McGraw (2004) and Ken Brett (2003). In particular, these players all passed away from an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.
Read MoreHowever, the Phillies are not the only team to use radar guns and many other people would have been around the AstroTurf in the old Veterans Stadium. Despite the mysterious spike in brain cancer cases, pegging down an environmental link to cancer is very difficult.
After Daulton’s death in 2017, Harvard epidemiologist Dr. Timothy Rebbeck told the New York Times that the Phillies’ case was “either just random chance bad luck, or there is something there, but we just don’t have the science to pick it out yet.”
Environmental links to cancer
It is extremely difficult to prove that any one chemical in the environment is responsible for causing cancer. However, there has been some progress on this front in recent years when it comes to chemicals used in weed killers and a certain type of blood cancer.
A major new piece of research recently found evidence that exposure to something called glyphosate increases the risk for developing one form of leukemia by 41%. Glyphosate herbicides are the most widely used weed killer in the world. Agricultural giant Monsanto uses glyphosate for its "Roundup" herbicide.
"Based on the available data that we have and the correlations, it does seem that there is an association between exposure to herbicides and pesticides and increased risk for developing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)," Dr. William Weirda, Director of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet during a previous discussion on the topic.
Dr. William Wierda explains how researchers were able to link a chemical in weed killer to a specific type of blood cancer.
“It's easier to make an association like smoking and lung cancer than it is to make these associations, but there are data that have accumulated over the years that do suggest that herbicides and pesticides are a risk for developing CLL.”
What is glioblastoma?
Glioblastoma is a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumor. It can invade nearby brain tissue, but generally doesn’t spread to other organs. Because these tumors generally develop very quickly, the potential for longterm survival is unfortunately low. Glioblastoma has an incidence of about 3.21 per every 100,000 people, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
However, even though this is a very aggressive cancer, there is hope when it comes to treatment. Duke University Medical Center's Dr. Henry Friedman, a top brain researcher and neuro-oncologist, told SurvivorNet that there are exciting treatment options in the testing phase, including using the poliovirus to treat these tumors.
Dr. Henry Friedman explains new advances when it comes to treating glioblastoma.
“One of the exciting things that we are doing at Duke is work with the modified poliovirus,” he explained. “…It is used to treat this tumor by injecting it directly into the tumor through a catheter. It is designed to lyse the tumor and cause the tumor cells to basically break up.”
Dr. Friedman added that this method “has helped a large number of patients, but not enough.” However, more work is being done to improve the method including testing the poliovirus with something called a checkpoint inhibitor.
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