Mesothelioma Subtype Has Lengthier Projected Longevity

Mesothelioma Subtype Has Lengthier Projected Longevity
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Belluck & Fox

At a recent International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting, a group of Nordic researchers released the surprising results of a study that showed certain mesothelioma patients can have a much longer life expectancy than is normally assumed. In the Nordic study, patients with the epithelial subtype of mesothelioma were shown to have the longest life expectancy. The researchers tracked 147 mesothelioma patients treated only with chemotherapy until death or for a minimum of 18 months. Of those surveyed, 108 patients (73%) were shown to have epithelial mesothelioma, while biphasic mesothelioma accounted for 21 patients (14%) and the sarcomatous subtype for 18 patients (12%). Epithelial patients had a median survival of 15 months, which is greater than the 9 to 12 months usually quoted patients in the U.S. When broken down further, 44% survived at least 18 months, 25% survived for two years, 9% lived three years or longer, and two patients remained alive after five years. No member of the other two group subtypes lived beyond two years.

These results indicate that chemotherapy used as the primary treatment modality for epithelial mesothelioma patients may be more effective than surgery, which is the standard modality for patients in the United States. While the study has not yet been replicated in a peer-reviewed journal, experts are excited about its results and hope it does indicate a more efficacious treatment mode for victims of mesothelioma.

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