Mesothelioma Treatment Combines Proton and Photodynamic Therapy

Intraoperative photodynamic therapy combined with novel proton radiation improved survival time significantly for recent patients with advanced-stage pleural mesothelioma. The study — the first to measure the impact of this combination — involved 10 consecutive patients treated at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center. The treatment regimen resulted in a 90 percent, two-year disease control rate and an impressive 30.3-month median overall survival from the time of diagnosis. All 10 patients were diagnosed before treatment began with stage 3 or stage 4 disease, which typically results in a 10 to 14-month survival. “The combination may have worked synergistically to better fight the cancer,” Dr. Charles Simone, senior study author, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “Results were impressive…with better than expected clinical outcomes.” Simone Bringing Proton Therapy to New York Simone has pioneered the use of proton therapy for mesothelioma. He was recently named chief medical officer at the New York Proton Center, which opens in May as the first facility in the state to offer this type of radiation therapy. The journal Photochemistry and Photobiology published the study in January 2019. Simone, previously the medical director at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was joined by doctors from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and The UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer in the stu...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news