Search Results for: cytoreductive surgery

Extended Survival of Peritoneal Mesothelioma with Repeat Treatment
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Extended Survival of Peritoneal Mesothelioma with Repeat Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

There is some good news on the research front for patients with recurrent peritoneal mesothelioma. Doctors at the University of New South Wales in Australia say that treating these patients again with surgery and heated chemotherapy is extending lives, sometimes for several years. Peritoneal mesothelioma, which accounts for about 20 percent of mesothelioma cases, occurs on the peritoneal membrane that surrounds abdominal organs. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) aims to remove as much of that diseased tissue as possible. It is often followed by heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to kill any remaining mesothelioma cells and to keep new tumors from starting. The CRS/HIPEC combination has become the gold standard first line treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma. But the authors of a new study…

Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women
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Sex Hormones May Account for Better Mesothelioma Survival in Women

ByAlex Strauss

There’s evidence that female sex hormones may help explain the better survival rates in women with peritoneal mesothelioma. The news could open the door for a new way to treat the disease. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of mesothelioma that attacks the membrane around abdominal organs. Like most forms of mesothelioma, it is believed to be caused by asbestos and carries a poor prognosis. In addition to being less likely to contract mesothelioma than their male counterparts, women are also less likely to die from it quickly. Now, researchers at St. George Hospital in Sydney, Australia think they may know why. The team analyzed data on 52 consecutive peritoneal mesothelioma patients treated with cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy…

Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival May Depend on Cancer Location

Peritoneal Mesothelioma Survival May Depend on Cancer Location

ByAlex Strauss

Doctors in Greece believe they have found a more effective way to predict prognosis and perhaps extend the lives of people with peritoneal mesothelioma and other cancers affecting the peritoneum. It is based around a system than maps the location of cancer within the abdomen. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of one of the rarest cancers. Caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure, peritoneal mesothelioma starts on the lining that surrounds the abdominal organs. A combination treatment of surgery followed by a wash of heated chemotherapy (HIPEC) through the abdomen is considered the gold standard therapy. Now, surgical oncologist John Spiliotis of the Metaxa Cancer Hospital in Piraeus, Greece along with colleagues in Greece and the US say the location…

Surgical Experience Improves Outcomes in Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Surgical Experience Improves Outcomes in Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

When it comes to surgical intervention for peritoneal mesothelioma, the most experienced centers tend to have the best outcomes. The latest study to support this idea comes from researchers in the Peritoneal Malignancy Institute in Basingstoke, UK. The authors of the new study on peritoneal malignancies including mesothelioma published their research in the British medical journal Colorectal Disease. They performed a retrospective analysis on a database of 1,200 patients treated for peritoneal cancers since 1994. Most of these patients had a diagnosis of cancer of the appendix, but just over 5 percent had peritoneal mesothelioma. The goal of the study was to determine trends in cancer survival after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). For peritoneal mesothelioma, the surgery involves…

HIPEC Variation May Benefit Frail Mesothelioma Patients
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HIPEC Variation May Benefit Frail Mesothelioma Patients

ByAlex Strauss

A method of delivering heated chemotherapy drugs to the abdomen after the surgical wound has been closed may produce better outcomes than an open technique for fragile or elderly mesothelioma patients. The study was conducted by surgery departments at three different Greek hospitals. Study subjects included 105 patients with either mesothelioma or another peritoneal malignancy. All of the patients were recommended for cytoreductive surgery to remove as much of their cancer as possible followed by a rinse of heated chemotherapy drugs at the site of the surgery (HIPEC) to kill any residual cancer cells and prevent recurrence. Sixty of the patients with mesothelioma or another cancer received HIPEC using an open abdomen technique. In this technique, the chemotherapy solution is…

Refining CRS-HIPEC for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Refining CRS-HIPEC for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

  Three new international studies are helping to refine a treatment for peritoneal mesothelioma that involves rinsing the body cavity with heated chemotherapy drugs. The treatment, called heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy or HIPEC, begins with surgery to remove as much of the mesothelioma tumor as possible from the surface of the peritoneal membrane. Chemotherapy drugs are then heated and rinsed through the area while the patient is still in surgery. The goal is to destroy any residual cancer cells and keep mesothelioma from growing back. Although the treatment is still relatively new, it is quickly becoming the standard of care for peritoneal mesothelioma. Now, researchers around the world are working on ways to make HIPEC even more effective. In one new…

Optimal Mesothelioma Care: Is Reimbursement Structure a Disincentive?
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Optimal Mesothelioma Care: Is Reimbursement Structure a Disincentive?

ByAlex Strauss

Impending changes in the way hospitals are reimbursed for medical treatments may help improve outcomes for some patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. That conclusion comes from a new study in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, which compared the costs with the money a hospital stands to earn from a popular mesothelioma treatment. Mesothelioma is a fast-growing and lethal cancer that occurs most often in people who worked in jobs that exposed them to asbestos. While most cases of mesothelioma occur on the pleura, the lining around the lungs, about a third of cases occur on the peritoneum, which lines the abdomen. Increasingly, the gold standard treatment for people with peritoneal mesothelioma is cytoreductive surgery (CRS) to remove as much of the…

New Treatments Have Improved Outcomes for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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New Treatments Have Improved Outcomes for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

The newest studies on peritoneal mesothelioma indicate that the outlook for people with this rare asbestos-linked cancer are better than ever. A recent article in the World Journal of Gastroenterology detailed the progress that has been made – and continues to be made – in the treatment of peritoneal mesothelioma in the last decade. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a type of mesothelioma that occurs on the peritoneum, the lining around the abdominal organs. It accounts for less than a third of mesothelioma cases. In the new article, surgeons with Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine and the Massey Cancer Center in Richmond report that the increasing use of cytoreductive surgery combined with a rinse of heated chemotherapy drugs has significantly improved…

Repeat CRS/HIPEC Improves Survival for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
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Repeat CRS/HIPEC Improves Survival for Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

One of the country’s top peritoneal mesothelioma surgeons has just published a study that may be good news for patients with this aggressive malignancy. Paul Sugarbaker, MD, and colleagues at the Program in Peritoneal Surface Oncology in Washington, DC studied patients with diffuse peritoneal mesothelioma who had repeated cytoreductive surgery and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy. Their results indicate that patients with diffuse peritoneal mesothelioma can safely undergo these procedures more than once and may even improve their odds of survival. Cytoreductive surgery refers to a surgery designed to remove as much as possible of a mesothelioma tumor growing on the peritoneal lining that surrounds abdominal organs. Doctors have gotten good results by following the procedure with a wash of heated chemotherapy…

Platinum Drug Beats Antibiotic for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Treatment
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Platinum Drug Beats Antibiotic for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

A team of surgeons in Nebraska have determined what they say is the best chemotherapy drug to pair with surgery in patients with peritoneal mesothelioma. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare form of the asbestos cancer that affects the lining of the abdomen. A treatment approach that involves removing as much of the cancer as possible with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and then rinsing the abdomen with heated chemotherapy drugs (HIPEC) seems to produce better outcomes than systemic chemotherapy. But there is debate over the best drug to use in CRS/HIPEC treatment. Surgeons at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha conducted a retrospective study of peritoneal mesothelioma patients that spanned from 2003 to 2010. A total of 44 patients were treated with…