Malignant mesothelioma is a rare and deadly form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The disease can appear in the pleural cavity, the peritoneal cavity, and extremely rarely in the pericardial cavity. Administering heated chemotherapy after tumor removal surgery has proven to be extremely effective in patients with peritoneal mesothelioma, and now researchers say the same is true for patients with the more prevalent pleural form of the disease.
Egyptian Surgeons Study Use of HITOC in Pleural Mesothelioma
Patients diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma have tumors form in their abdominal cavity. Those who are eligible for surgical removal are often offered a procedure known as cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, or CRS-HIPEC, that involves removing as much malignant material as possible and then bathing the surgical site with a heated chemotherapy solution that kills any microscopic cancer cells left behind.
Researchers from the Thoracic Surgery Department of Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, recently conducted a study of whether a similar procedure called Hyperthermic Intrathoracic Chemoperfusion, or HITOC, can deliver improved outcomes for mesothelioma patients undergoing surgery to remove tumors from the pleural cavity. Over a six-and-a-half-year period, they followed 55 patients with localized pleural mesothelioma who’d undergone pleurectomy and decortication, thirty of whom had surgery alone and 25 of whom had surgery followed by HITOC with cisplatin.
HITOC Provides Improved Outcomes in Pleural Mesothelioma Surgery
According to the study published in the journal Updates in Surgery, the 25 pleural mesothelioma patients who received HITOC in combination with pleurectomy and decortication had a 30-day mortality of 0% vs. one case in the surgery group. Transient complications occurred in four patients. Most importantly, progression-free survival in the HITOC group was 8 months vs 6 months in the surgery-only group, and overall survival time in the HITOC group was 28 months compared to 22 months in the surgery-only group.
The researchers concluded that HITOC following pleurectomy and decortication in pleural mesothelioma patients is a safe therapeutic option. They also noted that patients with earlier-stage mesothelioma are more likely to benefit from the procedure.
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net have the resources and information you need. Contact us today at 1-800-692-8608 to learn more.
