Study Evaluates Systemic Chemotherapy on Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Systemic chemotherapy, either before or after cytoreductive surgery, provided no improvement in long-term survival for patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, according to a recent study. The addition of systemic chemotherapy improved survival at the one-year mark, but there were no benefits at the two-, three- or five-year checkpoints. Systemic chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs that are injected into a vein or given by mouth. The median survival of surgical patients who received systemic chemotherapy did not improve, either. “We know surgery is the best option, and if the surgery is successful, chemotherapy may not have any added benefit,” Dr. George Salti, University of Illinois Health surgeon and co-author of the study, told Asbestos.com. “Not everyone benefits from this systemic chemotherapy.” Medical Oncology recently published the study that examined the National Cancer Database (NCDB), a cancer registry maintained by the American College of Surgeons. The registry includes an estimated 70 percent of cancer cases nationwide. Recent treatment advances, including the combination of cytoreduction and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), were not addressed in the study. HIPEC involves a 90-minute chemotherapy wash of the abdominal cavity following surgery. The procedure has shown considerable promise. Benefits of Surgery The research team started with 2,664 peritoneal mesothelioma patients from 2004-2014. After a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria was a...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news