Various combination treatments are consistently shown to be the most effective method of combating mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer most often caused by exposure to asbestos. Much like other cancers, the three most prevalent treatment options for mesothelioma are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Recently, several studies have shown specific advantages in combining one or more bodies of treatment.
An article published in the European Journal of Surgical Oncology recently reported that in a controlled study cytoreductive surgery, or surgery to remove malignant cancer cells, combined with certain forms of chemotherapy was a more effective treatment option than either surgery or chemotherapy alone. Similarly, a team of researchers in Victoria, Australia recently discovered that a new type of radiation therapy is far more effective at combating mesothelioma in combination with surgery or chemotherapy than it is by itself. Studies that discover which types of treatments best compliment each other are vital in the fight against mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma attacks the mesothelium, a membrane that forms a protective lining around several body cavities including the pleura or chest cavity, the peritoneum or abdominal cavity, and the pericardium or lining of the heart. Sadly, patients diagnosed with mesothelioma are only expected to live between six and eighteen months. More and more the cancer is becoming a serious concern in the United States and abroad due to its growing diagnoses and poor prognosis. Although it is caused by exposure to asbestos, a fibrous substance often used as insulation and fire retardant before the turn of the century, mesothelioma can take decades to develop after a patient is initially exposed to the dangerous fibres. The time that it takes the disease to develop combined with its generic, flu like symptoms make it a poor candidate for early detection and contribute to its shocking prognosis.
The medical community has long suspected the effectiveness of combination therapies for the treatment of mesothelioma, and new studies continue to corroborate that opinion. Lung Cancer, a medical journal, recently published a clinical trial which states that trimodal therapy (surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy in combination) improves survival rates in pleural mesothelioma patients, that is, patients with mesothelioma of the chest or lungs. The trial included 35 pleural mesothelioma patients, all of whom received radical pleurectomy surgery followed by four cycles of chemotherapy, followed by four to six weeks of radiation therapy.
Radical pleurectomy surgery is an alternative to extrapleural pneumonectomy, a surgery where an entire lung is removed from the patient. While radical pleurectomy aims to remove malignant cancer cells much like extrapleural pneumonectomy, it leaves the lungs in tact which tends to result in an improved recovery rate. This study specifically targeted radical pleurectomy patients because of their likelihood to recover from surgery more rapidly. Because of the nature of the trimodal therapy study, it was important that the patients were fit to continue other treatments after surgery.
“The aim of our prospective study was to analyze the feasibility and describe the long-term outcomes of patients treated with RP [radical pleurectomy] as surgical therapy modality in a standardized trimodality therapy concept,” the study states.
The study was a success, improving the patient’s average survival rates by a full year beyond normal expectations. The targeting of radical pleurectomy surgery was a key factor to the success of the treatment, researchers said, stating “[radical pleurectomy] as a surgical strategy allows patients to capitalize on all the aspects that a multimodality treatment approach has to offer without compromising the surgical oncological result and thus we believe RP [radical pleurectomy] is a cornerstone of the promising long-term results achieved in our pilot study. The observed and theoretical benefits of this trimodality treatment approach warrant confirmation in larger multi-center prospective controlled studies.” Researchers worldwide continue to study combination treatment strategies to improve the quantity and quality of life for mesothelioma patients.
