Malignant Mesothelioma - Treatment

Surgery:
most useful for palliation – for local
control of recurrent effusions. This can be either
radical resection (extrapleural pneumonectomy) or
debulking surgery vs VATS.

Chemotherapy:
poor response rates (15-20%) in
most cases. Pemetrexed and cisplatin, Gemcitabine
with cisplatin are common chemo-regimen used
currently.

Radiotherapy:
MM is resistant to traditional
radiotherapy. Local radiation to surgical sites
prevent seeding of tumor, and can provide
palliative relief of somatic chest-wall pain.

Immunotherapy:
studies in animal and clinical
trials have shown some tumor response to trials of
IFN-alpha, intrapleural IL-2, GM-CSF