A new study entitled “Cold-Plasma Coagulation in the Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Results of a Combined Approach”, was published in the Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, an online journal. The study details a new practice being tested by a group of researchers attempting to increase the efficacy of mesothelioma treatments.
Mesothelioma, a terminal cancer caused by the accidental inhalation or ingestion of asbestos fibers, causes death ten to eighteen months from diagnosis on average. The disease can take several decades to develop from the time of initial exposure to asbestos fibers, lending to its difficult diagnosis and contributing to the fact that most patients suffer from its advanced stages before beginning treatments. Due to the long latency period of the disease, annual diagnoses are expected to rise beyond 2015 despite the fact that asbestos bans and regulations continue to tighten.
Mesothelioma, or a malignant tumor of the soft tissue known as the mesothelium, is treated palliatively, meaning that treatment aims to increase a patient’s comfort and extend their survival with providing a curative solution. The vast majority of mesothelioma patients undergo a combination of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.
In recent years a technique known as heated chemotherapy has shown some promise in patients undergoing tumor removal surgery. The procedure consists of washing affected tissues in a warm chemotherapy solution, the warmth of which increases effective absorption, in order to destroy malignant cells missed by the surgery. Heated chemotherapy poses some threats as well, however, including damaging the diaphragm and the pericardium – the tissue lining around the heart.
The new treatment method, cold-plasma coagulation, was tested in stage III mesothelioma patients. Stage III describes the state of the disease when malignancy has spread beyond the original tumor into several lymph nodes. Cold-plasma coagulation was used to destroy malignant tissues and cells in the pleura, diaphragm, and pericardium before a regular regimen of heated chemotherapy was applied. The results, say the researchers, proved as safe as prior methods of treatment and may prove to be a beneficial addition to multi-modal treatments in the future.
The authors of the study were cautious with their claims, stating that further trials would be necessary to draw conclusions.
“We consider our trial as a pilot study,” they said, “to evaluate potential survival benefits using this [Cold Plasma] technique, larger trials are mandatory.”
