Current treatment options and biology of peritoneal mesothelioma: meeting summary of the first NIH peritoneal mesothelioma conference

Annals of Oncology. Advance Access published online on April 6, 2006, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdl060. [Link]

R. Hassan 1 *, R. Alexander 1, K. Antman 1, P. Boffetta 2, A. Churg 3, D. Coit 4, P. Hausner 5, R. Kennedy 6, H. Kindler 7, M. Metintas 8, L. Mutti 9, M. Onda 1, H. Pass 10, A. Premkumar 1, V. Roggli 11, D. Sterman 12, P. Sugarbaker 13, R. Taub 14, and C. Verschraegen 15

1 National Cancer Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA
2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
3 University of British Columbia, Canada
4 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
5 University of Maryland
6 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
7 University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
8 Osmangazi University, Turkey
9 Local Health Unit 11, Vercelli, Italy
10 Karmanos Cancer Institute
11 Duke University Medical Center
12 University of Pennsylvania
13 Washington Hospital Center
14 Columbia University
15 University of New Mexico, USA

Abstract

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the peritoneum with about 250 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. It is the second most common site for mesothelioma development and accounts for 10-20% of all mesotheliomas diagnosed in the United States. A meeting sponsored by the NIH Office of Rare Diseases was held in Bethesda, Maryland on September 13 and 14, 2004. The objective of this meeting was to review the epidemiology, biology and current surgical and medical management of peritoneal mesothelioma. In addition, the meeting also discussed clinical and pre-clinical evaluation of novel treatments for mesothelioma as well as ongoing laboratory research to better understand this disease. This report summarizes the proceedings of the meeting as well as directions for future clinical and basic research.

Keywords: cancer; mesothelioma; peritoneal.