Mesothelioma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Mesothelioma, including details on asbestos, symptoms, treatment, causes.

Prognostic factors in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma at a large tertiary referral center.

Flores RM, Zakowski M, Venkatraman E, Krug L, Rosenzweig K, Dycoco J, Lee C, Yeoh C, Bains M, Rusch V

Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA. floresr@mskcc.org

INTRODUCTION: Most studies describing the natural history and prognostic factors for malignant pleural mesothelioma antedate accurate pathologic diagnosis, staging by computed tomography, and a universal staging system. We conducted a large single-institution analysis to identify prognostic factors and assess the association of resection with outcome in a contemporary patient population. METHODS: Patients with biopsy-proven malignant pleural mesothelioma at our institution were identified and clinical data were obtained from an institutional database. Survival and prognostic factors were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards analysis. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2005, 945 patients were identified: 755 men, 190 women; median age, 66 years (range, 26-93). Extrapleural pneumonectomy was performed in 208 (22%), pleurectomy/decortication in 176 (19%). Operative mortality was 4% (16/384). Multimodality therapy including surgery was associated with a median survival of 20.1 months. Significant predictors of overall survival included histology, gender, smoking, asbestos exposure, laterality, surgical resection by extrapleural pneumonectomy or pleurectomy/decortication, American Joint Committee on Cancer stage, and symptoms. A Cox model demonstrated a hazard ratio of 1.4 without surgical resection when controlling for histology, stage, gender, asbestos exposure, smoking history, symptoms, and laterality (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to tumor histology and pathologic stage, predictors of survival include gender, asbestos exposure, smoking, symptoms, laterality, and clinical stage. Surgical resection in a multimodality setting was associated with improved survival.

Published 2 October 2007 in J Thorac Oncol, 2(10): 957-65.
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