Study: Mesothelioma Survival Rates Rise with SMART Protocol

Using accelerated high-dose radiation prior to surgery produced an unprecedented 65.9-month median survival for a cohort of pleural mesothelioma patients who were part of a larger clinical trial at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. Lancet Oncology recently published results of the study, named SMART, an acronym for Surgery for Mesothelioma After Radiation Therapy. The SMART study involved 96 patients with pleural mesothelioma who were treated in Toronto from 2008 to 2019. All received the intensity-modulated radiotherapy before extrapleural pneumonectomy surgery, an unconventional treatment regimen. Among the 96, there were 19 mesothelioma patients with the epithelial cell type and no lymph node involvement, producing the five-and-a-half-year median survival cohort. According to the study, it was the first time a multimodal radical surgery clinical trial for pleural mesothelioma exceeded a five-year median survival. “That number is almost unbelievable. I thought for a minute it might be a mistake. It was the super group,” Dr. John Cho, Toronto radiologist and lead study author, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “I had to go back and double check everything. A very pleasant surprise. It showed, in some cases, you can do quite well with this disease.” Mesothelioma Survival Soars for One Cohort The majority of patients with pleural mesothelioma die within a year of diagnosis. Fewer than a third are even eligible for aggressive mesothelioma surge...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news