Wednesday, February 1st, 2006.

Annals of Surgical Oncology. 2006 Feb;13(2):229-37. Epub 2006 Jan 18. [Link]

Marcello Deraco¹, Daisuke Nonaka², Dario Baratti², PaoloCasali³, Juan Rosai², Rami Younan^{1, 4}, Andreola Salvatore², Antonello D. Cabras AD² and Shigeki Kusamura^{1, 5}

(1) Department of Surgery, National Cancer Institute, Via Venezian, 1, 20133, Milan, Italy

(2) Department of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy

(3) Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy

(4) Department of Surgery, Centre Hospitalier de l’Universit� de Montreal, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Canada

(5) Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, School of Medical Science, State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

Abstract

Background: Diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (DMPM) is a subset of peritoneal mesothelioma with a poor clinical outcome. We performed a prognostic analysis in a cohort of DMPM patients treated homogeneously by cytoreductive surgery and intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion (IPHP).

Methods: Forty-nine DMPM patients who underwent 52 consecutive procedures were enrolled onto the study. Cytoreductive surgery was performed according to the peritonectomy technique, and the IPHP was performed with cisplatin plus doxorubicin or cisplatin plus mitomycin C. We assessed the correlation of the clinicopathologic variables (previous surgical score, age, sex, performance status, previous systemic chemotherapy, carcinomatosis extension, completeness of cytoreduction, IPHP drug schedule, mitotic count [MC], nuclear grade, and biological markers [epidermal growth factor receptor, p16, matrix metalloproteinase 2 and matrix metalloproteinase 9]) with overall and progression-free survival.

Results: The mean age was 52 years (range, 22–74 years). The mean follow-up was 20.3 months (range, 1–89 months). Regarding the biological markers, the rates of immunoreactivity of epidermal growth factor receptor, p16, matrix metalloproteinase 2, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 were 94%, 60%, 100%, and 85%, respectively. The strongest factors influencing overall survival were completeness of cytoreduction and MC, whereas those for progression-free survival were performance status and MC. No biological markers were shown to be of prognostic value.

Conclusions: Completeness of cytoreduction, performance status, and MC seem to be the best determinants of outcome. These data warrant confirmation by a further prospective formal trial. No biological markers presented a significant correlation with the outcome. The overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor, matrix metalloproteinase 2, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 and absent or reduced expression of p16 might be related to the underlining tumor kinetics of DMPM and warrant further investigation with other methods.

Keywords: Peritoneal mesothelioma – Locoregional therapy – Prognosis – Biological markers

Glossary

therapy

any of the measures taken to treat a disease. Unproven therapy is any therapy that has not been scientifically tested and approved. Use of an unproven therapy instead of standard (proven) therapy is called alternative therapy. Some alternative therapies have dangerous or even life-threatening side effects. For others, the main danger is that a patient may lose the opportunity to benefit from standard therapy. Complementary therapy, on the other hand, refers to therapies used in addition to standard therapy. Some complementary therapies may help relieve certain symptoms of cancer, relieve side effects of standard cancer therapy, or improve a patient's sense of well-being. The ACS recommends that patients considering use of any alternative or complementary therapy discuss this with their health care team.

prognosis

(prog-no-sis) a prediction of the course of disease; the outlook for the cure of the patient. For example, women with breast cancer that was detected early and who received prompt treatment have a good prognosis.

oncology

(on-call-o-jee) the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

grade

The grade of a cancer reflects how abnormal it looks under the microscope. There are several grading systems for cancer, such as the Gleason score for prostate cancer. Each grading system divides cancer into those with the greatest abnormality (poorly differentiated), the least abnormality (well-differentiated), and those in between (moderately differentiated). Grading is done by the pathologist who examines the tissue from the biopsy. It is important because higher grade cancers tend to grow and spread more quickly and have a worse prognosis.

chemotherapy

(key-mo-THER-uh-pee) treatment with drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy is often used with surgery or radiation to treat cancer when the cancer has spread, when it has come back (recurred), or when there is a strong chance that it could recur.

cancer

malignancy; a group of diseases typified by abnormal, generally out-of-control, cell growth.

tumor

an abnormal lump or mass of tissue. Tumors can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

mesothelioma

a tumor derived from mesothelial tissue, such as the peritoneum (lining the abdomen) or pleura (lining the lungs). More on mesothelioma.

peritoneal

(pair-uh-tuh-nee-al) the serous membrane that lines the cavity of the abdomen. (More on Peritoneal Mesothelioma.)

epidermal growth factor receptor

The process of cell division, growth, differentiation and death is a highly regulated process. Several class of trans membrane receptors play a pivot role in this process, of these, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) a member of Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (RTK) family are best known. These comprises of four receptors Erb B1/HER 1, Erb B2 / HER 2, Erb B3/ HER 3, and Erb B4 / HER 4. Of these HER 2 is the most favoured target. (Source: Manoj Pandey and K Chandramohan)

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