Unveiling the Rare: Pericardial and Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Unveiling the Rare: Pericardial and Peritoneal Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

Mesotheliomas are a rare type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma in the lungs is called pleural mesothelioma and is the most common type. However, pericardial and peritoneal mesothelioma are even rarer forms. These types of mesothelioma grow in the heart and in the abdomen. A team of researchers from the United States wanted to learn more. They looked at patients who were hospitalized with these unusual types of cancer. Patients of Uncommon Mesothelioma Types They ran a study looking at patients with pericardial and peritoneal mesothelioma who went to the hospital from 2016 to 2020. They split the patients into two groups. First, those with pericardial mesothelioma. And second, those with peritoneal mesothelioma. The researchers looked at…

Rare Mesothelioma Subtype Less Likely to Respond to Treatment
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Rare Mesothelioma Subtype Less Likely to Respond to Treatment

ByAlex Strauss

A new meta-analysis confirms that people with the sarcomatoid type of mesothelioma are less likely to respond to systemic chemotherapy than are people with other histological subtypes. Citing a lack of research on the responsiveness of different types of mesothelioma, scientists with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC reviewed the medical literature for any studies that broke down responses by histological subtype. Of the 544 studies analyzed, 30 included sarcomatoid mesothelioma patients and met the trial criteria that patients be treated only with chemotherapy. The selected studies included a total of 1,475 mesothelioma patients. Sixty-eight percent of patients (1,011) had the epithelioid variety of mesothelioma, the most common type. Just over 13 percent…