A transarterial chemoperfusion treatment shows very promising and effective results in treating mesothelioma, a devastating cancer of the pleura, the membranes surrounding the lungs.
- Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a very aggressive cancer of the pleura that usually results from exposure to asbestos.
- The new treatment is transarterial chemo-infusion that delivers a high concentration of drugs to diseased tissue in the lining of the lungs.
- Thanks to the new treatment, the disease control rate is 70.3% with a survival rate that climbs to 8.5 months from the start of chemoinfusion.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a very aggressive primary tumor of the pleura for which there is no curative treatment. This cancer is mainly caused by exposure to asbestos and the first symptoms can appear up to 40 years after coming into contact with the material for the first time. Each year, between 800 and 1000 new cases appear in France.
Extend life expectancy
American researchers from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa have developed a new treatment that improves the quality of life of patients. They presented their findings in a virtual session of the Society of Interventional Radiology 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting, June 14. “The typical survival rate for patients with stage 3 and 4 MPM is approximately 12 months after diagnosisrecalls Bela Kis, principal investigator of the study and interventional radiologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. But with this new treatment, we hope we can extend patients’ lives beyond that – giving them more time with friends and family..”
The new treatment is transarterial chemo-infusion. It delivers a relatively high concentration of drugs to diseased tissues in the lining of the lungs to maximize the treatment effect by limiting side effects. Unlike other chemotherapies that are given intravenously and circulate throughout the body, interventional radiologists inject one-third of the chemotherapy cocktail containing cisplatin, methotrexate, and gemcitabine directly into the internal mammary artery that supplies the pleura. The other two-thirds of the drugs are injected into the descending aorta, which reaches the intercostal vessels which also supply the pleura.
Few side effects
The research was carried out on 27 patients with MPM who received the chemo-infusion treatment. These patients have previously received chemotherapy, radiotherapy or even a pleurectomy, but none of these treatments has slowed down the disease. Thanks to the new treatment, the disease control rate is 70.3% with a survival rate that climbs to 8.5 months from the start of chemoinfusion. The treatment was well tolerated by patients with a major complication rate of 1.4% and most side effects were relatively minor, including mild nausea and chest pain. “We were pleasantly surprised to find that this treatment does not come with the same side effects as traditional intravenous chemotherapy.welcomed Bela Kis. Seeing these promising results with so few side effects means we are able to have a positive impact on the quality of life of these patients..”
The researchers want to extend their study to other cancer centers with a larger number of patients with MPM. They also hope to add flexibility to the study to allow the dosage to be increased and the drug combination to be changed for each patient to determine whether either approach might further improve outcomes.
