Mesothelioma Trimodality Therapy Benefits Patients
In a study recently published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, mesothelioma researchers found a trimodality therapeutic approach of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation to be effective in treating malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. A long latency period of 20 to 50 years complicates the diagnostic process and usually leads to a diagnosis at a late stage of cancer development. Because most cases of malignant mesothelioma are diagnosed in a late stage of development, treatment options are often limited to palliative measures intended to improve quality of life.
Researchers are avidly searching for a cure for this rare cancer, as current treatment therapies typically fail to fully combat the cancer. According to the study’s researchers, “Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a fatal disease. The optimal modality and sequence of therapy are controversial. We analyzed the outcomes of a cohort of mesothelioma patients treated with induction chemotherapy, followed by extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) and adjuvant radiation.”
The study included 46 patients treated with induction chemotherapy followed by EPP throughout the course of a 10-year period. Of the 46 participants, 24 underwent adjuvant external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and 14 completed intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) following surgery.
The results of the study showed that local recurrence of a tumor was 14.3 percent with IMRT and 41.7 percent with EBRT, suggesting that IMRT could be more effective at preventing tumor recurrence than EBRT. Additionally, the time to local recurrence following radiotherapy was 12 months with IMRT and 7 months for EBRT, meaning IMRT was also more effective at warding off recurrence for a longer period of time than EBRT.
Researchers found that “Induction chemotherapy, followed by EPP and adjuvant radiotherapy for selected patients with mesothelioma is safe, with acceptable operative mortality. Adjuvant IMRT may be more effective in terms of local control than EBRT.”
Additional information about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure may be found through the Mesothelioma Center.
