Mesothelioma Study: Age Is Not Deciding Factor for Surgery

A recent study has reinforced — for the second time — the growing belief that age should not be a deterrent to aggressive, life-changing surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma. You’re never too old. Dr. Annabel Sharkey, cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, said patients well over the age of 70 can be as successful with extended pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) surgery as those who are considerably younger. “We should not be using age to decide who will benefit from surgery,” Sharkey told Asbestos.com. “In the past, people sometimes thought they were just too old for it. That’s not the case anymore.” Sharkey delivered her message last month at the European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. It was based on a review of 282 mesothelioma patients who underwent P/D surgery at Glenfield Hospital from 1999 to 2015. She said other factors, such as the tolerance level of adjuvant chemotherapy or disease metastasis, had a much bigger impact than age on survival times. Mesothelioma Study Involved a Rigorous Preoperative Evaluation The P/D surgery removes the pleural membrane around the lung, the lining around the heart, parts of the diaphragm and any visible tumor growth in the thoracic cavity. In most cases, it has replaced the more aggressive extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), which removes an entire lung. Sharkey’s procedure called for a surgery selection process that includes ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: latest mesothelioma research mesothelioma surgery new mesothelioma study Source Type: news