Adjuvant Radiotherapy May Not Lengthen Mesothelioma Survival, Study Shows
Having adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery may not help mesothelioma patients live any longer according to researchers at Duke and Stanford Universities. Researchers used a database of pleural mesothelioma patients from Duke and a national registry to conduct the analysis. They compared the outcomes of patients who had radiation after surgery (adjuvant radiotherapy) with the outcomes of those who did not. While radiotherapy may help reduce mesothelioma symptoms for some patients, the results of the study suggest that it is unlikely to extend survival. Radiation for Mesothelioma and Its Symptoms Radiotherapy is a mainstay of cancer therapy for certain kinds of cancer. But the irregular shape and aggressive nature of mesothelioma tumors makes them less than ideal for radiation treatment. Pleural…