This was a 2008 retrospective study from Austria on the effectiveness of extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) in pleural mesothelioma.
A retrospective study looks backwards. In this study, the researchers looked at what happened for all their pleural mesothelioma patients at the Medical University of Vienna who underwent an EPP from 1994 to 2005. There were a total of 49 patients (39 men and 10 women). The median time spent in the hospital after the surgery was 13 days. The median survival was calculated as 376 days. One-year survival was 53% and 5-year survival was 19%.
The researchers concluded that EPP “as part of a multi-modality treatment regimen is a good treatment option for selected patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.” This suggests that many of the EPP patients who were analyzed in this study had more just an EPP, possibly chemo and radiation too.
Today, most centers in the United States favor an extended pleurectomy decortication (P/D) over EPP because P/D has less side-effects and mortality associated with the procedure. Nonetheless, EPP is still available throughout the world. According to published reports, careful patient selection is usually the best approach.
| Treatment Details |
| Patients: This study involved forty-nine patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. There were 10 women and 39 men, with a median age of 59 years, ranging from 28 to 81. Some had previously been treated with chemotherapy drugs such as pemetrexed, cisplatin, gemcitabine, carboplatin, and doxorubicin. Treatment: Patients were treated with surgery, extrapleural pneumonectomy. Toxicity: Complications from surgery included atrial fibrillation, laryngeal nerve palsy, temporary paraplegia, and stroke. Results: The median overall survival was 12.4 months (376 days). Correspondence: Dr. Walter Klepetko |
| Survival: | 12.4 months |
| Toxicity Grade: | |
| Treatments: | Surgery |
| Drugs: | |
| Country: | Austria |
| City/State/Province: | Vienna |
| Hospital: | Medical University of Vienna |
| Journal: | Source Link |
| Date: | 4/2008 |
See all conventional treatment results for mesothelioma.