Increased Mesothelioma Chemotherapy Prolongs Survival Rate

Jan. 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Constant research into developing better asbestosis treatment methods for prolonging life expectancy rates for patients diagnosed with mesothelioma have found a number of promising results in recent years. Methods using different combinations of drug and radiation treatments, genetic biomarkers, surgical procedures and less-invasive medications, such as spray inhalers, have shown modest increases in patient survival rates.

There is a long latency period of up to 50 years from original asbestos exposure and absorption of the fibres into the linings of the lungs (pleura) or abdomen ( peritoneum) to the appearance of mesothelioma or asbestosis symptoms,

Well-known for being stubbornly resistant to most conventional treatments, prognosis for mesothelioma, an incurable asbestos-related cancer, has tended to be less than 6 months if the disease has spread to an advanced stage.

Generally, if mesothelioma is caught early enough and treated with a combination of surgical, radiotherapy and palliative treatment, patient survival can be extended to 12 months or longer.

A combination involving chemotherapy has become the universal standard for mesothelioma care, which show only modest but still the most effective results for prolonging a patient’s life. In the last ten years, chemotherapy using cisplatin-antifolate combinations have improved responses to prolong survival, and in the last five years, Alimta, which is specifically designed for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma has become the most commonly used chemotherapy medication for mesothelioma.

Taken together, the two medications known as a ‘first-line’ drug treatment, have shown to be the most effective  by adding an average of three months to the lives of patients, helping to reduce symptoms and improving quality of life.

A recent study was conducted in the Netherlands to “assess the impact of this development on clinical practice and survival at a population-based level.”

An increase in chemotherapy from 8 per cent to 36 per cent was administered to nearly 5,000 Dutch patients who were diagnosed with mesothelioma between 1995-1998 and 2005-2006.

It was found that average survival rate for chemotherapy-treated patients increased from slightly above 10 months in the earlier period to over 13 months in the latter test period. However, the average survival for older male patients with abdomen, or peritoneal mesothelioma was still relatively poor at just under 4 months.

The researchers concluded that the study “demonstrates that chemotherapy use increased at a national level and coincided with an improvement in survival” even though “alternative explanations cannot be excluded”, and increased survival rates were “relatively modest”.

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