Australian Study Shows Treatment Advances for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Patients with peritoneal mesothelioma undergoing a second cytoreductive surgery had a median survival of 92 months, according to a recent study at St. George Hospital and the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia. That same group of patients also had a five-year survival rate of 71.8%, further illustrating the progress being made in treating the peritoneal subtype of this rare and aggressive cancer. The Journal of Surgical Oncology published the study in July 2019. The single-center study detailed the survival benefits of cytoreduction and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy in colorectal, ovarian, appendiceal and mesothelioma cancers. It involved 1,225 patients, including 101 peritoneal mesothelioma cases, from 1996 through 2018. Peritoneal metastasis, which is the seeding of tumor cells on the peritoneal lining, was involved in all of the cancers in the study, prompting the similar type of treatment. “Once faced with skepticism due to its inherent morbidity, CRS/PIC [cytoreductive surgery and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy] are becoming the standard of care,” the authors wrote. “The present large-cohort data highlights that CRS/PIC are effective and safe in providing long-term survival benefit.” PIC involves either hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy — also known as HIPEC — used intraoperatively, or early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy, or both. The cytoreduction is an extensive debulking surgery that can last as lo...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news