Study: Aggressive Surgery Underutilized with Pleural Mesothelioma

Aggressive surgery for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma is being underutilized, costing patients significant survival time, according to a recent study. Researchers found mesothelioma patients from all three histological subtypes — epithelioid, biphasic and sarcomatoid — can benefit from surgery, despite a reluctance to perform it today. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nationwide alliance of leading cancer centers, encourages surgery only for epithelioid patients. This eliminates the option for almost 40 percent of those diagnosed with mesothelioma. “Surgery is underutilized in general for all patients [with mesothelioma], but more grossly underutilized in bi-phasic and sarcomatoid patients because the guidelines say don’t even consider it,” Dr. Charles Simone, University of Maryland School of Medicine radiation oncologist and study co-author, told Asbestos.com. “This is significant.” Histology Makes a Difference in Survival This was the largest mesothelioma study comparing survival with aggressive surgery against no surgery for each histological subtype. Also measured was overall median survival by histology, regardless of surgery. Clinical Lung Cancer published the study. Simone, director of the Maryland Proton Treatment Center, was joined by researchers from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh and Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. The study involved 4,207 patients from the National Cancer Data Base who met specific criter...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news