Experience Improves Mesothelioma Surgery Outcomes
Mesothelioma patients who are candidates for surgery will have better outcomes and longer survival if their procedure is done in a specialty treatment center by a surgeon experienced in mesothelioma surgery. That is the conclusion of a team of surgeons in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. The group set out to determine if survival statistics for mesothelioma surgery have improved over the years as doctors have gained more experience treating mesothelioma and adjuvant therapies have advanced. They analyzed the surgical treatments and survival results of 540 consecutive patients with malignant plural mesothelioma. The group was divided into two segments of 270 patients each. The first group was comprised of mesothelioma patients who…