A study conducted by researchers in Sydney, Australia has shed some new light on factors associated with longer peritoneal mesothelioma survival rates. The study, published last quarter in The American Surgeon, included twenty patients treated for the disease between 1997 and 2008 at the University of South Wales Department of Surgery.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is characterized by abnormal cell growth and tumor development in the mesothelial tissues of the abdominal organ tissues, and is normally caused by exposure to asbestos. The cancer causes swelling, discomfort and organ dysfunction in its early stages, and organ failure upon spreading to the organs themselves.
The patients included in the study underwent cytoreductive surgery which aimed to remove malignant tumors, as well as heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy with the drugs cisplatin and doxorubicin. Cisplatin and doxorubicin are believed to be more effective in combination than separately, and are administered at temperatures higher than the body’s to increase absorption and efficacy. Nineteen of the twenty patients survived the treatment.
The average survival beyond surgery is 30 months, a finding that’s consistent with other, similar studies and which researchers said was “encouraging” in establishing the accuracy of their findings. The patients which participated in the study were “disease free”, or relatively free of recurring tumors, for an average of eight months after surgery.
A wide variety of factors had noticeable impacts on the patients’ individual responses to surgery and chemotherapy, and on their subsequent survival. Non-smokers within the group studied remained “disease free” for eleven months after treatment, while smokers experienced tumor recurrences just four months after surgery and chemotherapy. Cigarette smoke is a known carcinogen, or cancer causing agent, which likely contributes to the relatively fast return of the disease in patients who are smokers.
Both gender and age influenced survival rates as well. Women with peritoneal mesothelioma survived on average three times as long as men, and patients under the age of fifty-five survived just four months compared to older patients who survived for fifteen months. The researchers explained these phenomena by suggesting that tumors presenting in younger patients are more aggressive and less responsive to the body’s immune system to begin with, and that women often seek medical advice sooner than men.
Another factor which influenced survival rates, the researchers found, was whether or not the patients drank alcohol on a regular basis. Patients who abstained from alcohol and did not have a history of regular drinking survived with the disease for far longer compared to other victims of mesothelioma. The researchers were not certain why alcohol impacts recovery and survival rates, and stated that the results of the study are still preliminary.
