Researchers Evaluating Proposed Peritoneal Mesothelioma Staging System

Data gathered by an international group of peritoneal mesothelioma experts is leading to changes in the way patients with this rare asbestos-related disease are diagnosed and treated. The cancer's rarity and resistance to treatment have complicated past efforts to create a formal staging system. Its low incidence also has limited the amount of data necessary to ensure a staging system is useful. Dr. W. Charles Conway, of the Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans, offers insight into a batch of data collected over a 20-year span that is paving the path toward formalizing a staging system for this rare cancer. "The Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International centralized their data and came up with a proposed staging system based on patients who had cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC," Conway recently told Asbestos.com. "This system is currently being evaluated by American Joint Committee on Cancer and may become the standard." Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer that grows in the layer of tissue that covers the abdominal organs. The cancer accounts for 10 to 20 percent of all diagnosed mesothelioma cases. The most effective treatment is hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), a multimodal therapy that combines surgery with heated chemo. Most every cancer, including malignant pleural mesothelioma - another rare asbestos-related disease - has an official staging system. A report published in the medical journal Cancer showed the proposed staging system "would ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news