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Mesothelioma Treatment Using A Combination of Surgery and Chemotherapy
Mesothelioma Treatments Include:
December 3, 2004 — A recent medical journal article by the renowned oncologist, Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, reviews the use of surgery and other therapies to treat mesothelioma (Thorac Surg Clin. 2004 Nov; 14(4): 531–42). One operation, an extrapleural pneumonectomy, removes portions of the lung, the parietal pleura (the lining of the lung), the pericardium (the lining of the heart), and the diaphragm. A pleural decortication is surgery that removes the lung lining or pleura only. Both surgeries can cut out tumor cells, but the patient must be able to withstand the rigors of these radical procedures.
The survival time after a diagnosis of mesothelioma may be as short as several months. However, some mesothelioma patients who have received extrapleural pneumonectomies have survived for over two years. Dr. Vogelzang noted that the standard for treating mesothelioma may become the use of surgery in combination with other therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. Early clinical studies have shown that chemotherapy followed by surgery can aid in controlling mesothelioma.
ALIMTA® and Surgery
In February of this year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the combination of a new drug, pemetrexed (ALIMTA®), plus a standard chemotherapy agent, cisplatin, to treat patients with advanced mesothelioma who were not good candidates for surgery. ALIMTA® works by blocking the enzymes necessary for cancer cells to synthesize thymidine and purine. In one study, 226 patients received pemetrexed and cisplatin, and 222 received cisplatin alone. The median survival time in the pemetrexed/cisplatin group was 12.1 months versus 9.3 months in the other group. Besides increasing survival time, ALIMTA® also reduced pain. (See FDA Approves ALIMTA for more details about this drug.)
In a future clinical trial, mesothelioma patients will receive pemetrexed plus cisplatin followed by surgery and radiation. If the study shows a good response rate and a survival time beyond 20 to 24 months, another study will compare mesothelioma treatment with surgery and radiation to treatment with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
For more details about chemotherapy, surgery, and other mesothelioma treatment choices, see Treatment Options. For information about your legal rights concerning mesothelioma, please feel free to contact us at Brayton Purcell. We have been handling cases involving mesothelioma and asbestos exposure for over 20 years and can provide support, information, and excellent advocacy.
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