The Department of Thoracic Surgery at Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan analyzed 14 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) who underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP), a surgery that removes the entire affected lung. All patients were men and had an average age of 58.5 years.

Preoperative histological diagnosis was as follows: 12 epithelial, 1 biphasic, and 1 sarcomatous. However, postoperative histological diagnosis showed 8 epithelial, 5 biphasic, and 1 sarcomatous. According to disease staging outlined by the International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG), 3 patients had Stage II disease, 8 were Stage III, and 3 had progressed to Stage IV, as determined postoperatively.

The operative mortality rate was 7% (1 death), and the morbidity rate was 50% (7 cases). The survival time for patients was between 2-5 years with a median survival rate of 20.2 months, 33. 8.3%, respectively.

Conclusions:

EPP for strictly selected patients has been successful in improving survival of patients with negative-node, epithelial type cells, and negative residual tumors.

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan.

Authors: Morohoshi, T.; Yamamoto, T.; Nagashima, T.

National Center for Biotechnology Information.  PubMed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17249537&query_hl=1&
itool=pubmed_docsum. Jan. 6, 2007. Feb. 20, 2007.

*** POSTED FEBRUARY 20, 2007 ***