Multimodal treatment for resectable epithelial type malignant pleural mesothelioma

BACKGROUND Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare malignancy. The outcome remains poor despite complete surgical resection. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eleven patients with histologicaly proven epithelial type malignant pleural mesothelioma undergoing extrapleural pneumonectomy with systemic chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy before and after surgical resection were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS Ten out of 11 patients underwent complete surgical resection, of these 7 patients had stage I disease. Of these 7 patients, 5 are alive without any recurrence, a 2-year survival rate of 80% was observed in this group. There was no operative mortality or morbidity. CONCLUSION Extrapleural pneumonectomy with perioperative adjuvant treatment is safe and effective procedure for epithelial type malignant pleural mesothelioma.