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Journal Articles on Mesothelioma: Cancer Information for Patients and Families

Archive for the 'Radiation' Category

Radiation news feed.

November 26th, 2008. Mesothelioma: treatment

There are few active cytotoxic drugs in this disease. Currently, based on two randomised trials, the most efficacious chemotherapy regimen consists in a combination of cisplatin and an antifolate agent, pemetrexed or raltitrexed.

November 21st, 2008. Compensator-based intensity-modulated radiation therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma post extrapleural pneumonectomy

Not all linear accelerators can deliver large-field MLC-based IMRT, but most can deliver a maximum conformal field of 40 x 40 cm. It is possible and reasonable to deliver IMRT with compensators for fields this size with most conventional linear accelerators.

November 5th, 2008. Case of malignant mesothelioma presenting as a perineal and intrascrotal mass

The patient died six months after the initiation of therapy. To our knowledge, 24 cases of malignant mesothelioma in the perineum or intrascrotum were reported in Japan and this case was thought to be the 25th case in Japan.

September 12th, 2008. A review of intensity-modulated radiation therapy

In some situations, IMRT allows more conformal radiation therapy to complex targets within the lung. As problems related to organ motion are increasingly addressed, the use of IMRT in the treatment of lung cancer, particularly in non-small cell lung cancer and mesothelioma, continues to rise.

September 6th, 2008. Prevention of malignant seeding at drain sites after invasive procedures (surgery and/or thoracoscopy) by hypofractionated radiotherapy in patients with pleural mesothelioma

Discussion: The present study shows the efficacy and safety of local radiotherapy in preventing malignant seeding after thoracoscopy in patients with pleural mesothelioma although larger prospective trials are probably still needed to validate this treatment approach.

September 2nd, 2008. Recent advances in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma

Vorinostat, a small molecule inhibitor of HDAC, which targets select members of class I and II HDACs, has shown early evidence of activity and is currently being evaluated in a randomized study for patients who progress with standard therapy for advanced mesothelioma. It is hoped that the HDAC inhibitors and other novel targeted agents will pave the way for improved outcomes for patients with this disease.

July 29th, 2008. Open lung-sparing surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma: the benefits of a radical approach within multimodality therapy

Conclusion: If a patient with epithelioid MPM is fit enough to tolerate a thoracotomy then macroscopic clearance of the tumour is the preferred option as part of a multimodality regime including chemotherapy.

July 9th, 2008. Malignant mesothelioma: current status and perspective in Japan and the world

In this context, combination therapy with surgery plus chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy is currently considered the standard treatment for patients with respectable MPM. A national survey of EPP was conducted recently in Japan, and a few multicenter clinical trials will start soon.

June 24th, 2008. Multimodal Therapy for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Including Extrapleural Pneumonectomy

During the follow-up duration of 23 months, 3 patients (18 %) developed distant metastasis and one (6 %) a mediastinal local recurrence. Multimodal therapy of malignant pleural mesothelioma including extrapleural pneumonectomy should only be performed in specialised centres for thoracic surgery where uncomplicated interdisciplinary communication is the rule and which provide the required expertise in patient selection, operative technique and postoperative care.

June 6th, 2008. Long-term mortality from pleural and peritoneal cancer after exposure to asbestos: Possible role of asbestos clearance

The risk for pleural cancer, rather than showing an indefinite increase, might reach a plateau when a sufficiently long time has elapsed since exposure. The different trends for pleural and peritoneal cancer might be related to clearance of the asbestos from the workers' lungs.

June 4th, 2008. Malignant mesothelioma 2008

Novel therapies including intrapleural chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy and hyperthermic perfusion have also been used with some success. Finally there are several attempts at immunomodulating and targeted treatments, which are in phase I/II trials.

June 4th, 2008. Prophylactic radiotherapy for pleural puncture sites in mesothelioma: the controversy continues

thoracoscopic) pleural puncture sites and reserving treatments to symptomatic deposits may be more appropriate. This strategy would optimize patient care and minimize hospital visits, but allow prompt instigation of treatment if symptoms develop.

June 3rd, 2008. Underestimation of Low-Dose Radiation in Treatment Planning of Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy

Conclusions: Secondary radiation from MLCs contributes a significant portion of low dose in IMRT plans. Dose underestimation could occur in conventional IMRT dose calculations if such low-dose radiation is not properly accounted for.

May 20th, 2008. Active symptom control with or without chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MS01): a multicentre randomised trial

Interpretation: The addition of chemotherapy to ASC offers no significant benefits in terms of overall survival or quality of life. However, exploratory analyses suggested that vinorelbine merits further investigation.

May 15th, 2008. Ranpirnase (Onconase), a cytotoxic amphibian ribonuclease, manipulates tumour physiological parameters as a selective killer and a potential enhancer for chemotherapy and radiation in cancer therapy

Conclusion: In animal studies, improvements in tumour physiology (i.e., increased blood flow, inhibited oxygen consumption, increased oxygenation and decreased tumour hypertension) and selectively enhanced radiation responses (i.e., increased radiation sensitivity and inhibited repair of sublethal and potentially lethal damage) were observed after ranpirnase treatment in preclinical tumour models. Ranpirnase is a promising candidate as an enhancer for radiation- and chemotherapy. Ongoing clinical trials promise to further improve the treatment of mesothelioma and lung cancer.

April 25th, 2008. Individual versus standard quality of life assessment in a phase II clinical trial in mesothelioma patients: Feasibility and responsiveness to clinical changes

Conclusion: The SEIQoL assessment seems to be feasible within a phase II clinical trial, but may require more effort from staff. More distinctive QoL changes in accordance with clinical changes were measured with the RSCL. Our findings suggest that the two measures are not interchangeable: the RSCL is to favor when mainly information related to the course of disease- and treatment is of interest.

April 10th, 2008. Surgical Treatment in the Management of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Single Institution’s Experience

Conclusions: In highly selected patients local control can be achieved with combination therapy but is accompanied by a high rate of (surgical) complications. Distant failure rates warrant further studies exploring the role of systemic chemotherapy while the use of cytoreductive surgery with intraoperative chemoperfusion for MPM is not supported.

April 3rd, 2008. The role of muscle flap in preventing bronchus stump insufficiency after pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma in high-risk patients

There was no early or late stump insufficiency during the 15-month follow-up. Surgical techniques using muscle flap seems to play a major role in the prevention of bronchus stump insufficiency especially after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

April 1st, 2008. Combined resection, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and whole abdominal radiation for the treatment of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma

Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, intensive multimodality therapy appears feasible and effective in this group of patients.

February 29th, 2008. Local recurrence of tumor at sites of intervention in malignant pleural mesothelioma

LD was not associated with the stage of the disease. The most suitable candidate groups for PR are patients receiving supportive therapy, thoracotomy without multi-modal therapy or patients with sarcomatous and mixed cell type tumors.