A study published last quarter in The American Surgeon provides new insight on some of the factors which may influence peritoneal mesothelioma survival rates. The study was performed by researchers in Sydney, Australia, and included twenty patients treated for the rare cancer at the University of South Wales Department of Surgery between 1997 and 2008.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The cancer attacks the mesothelial lining of the abdominal organs where it caused fluid buildup, tumors, bowel obstruction, and other serious problems. In time, the disease spreads to the organs themselves, causing organ failure and death. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a terminal cancer whose treatments aim at reducing pain and discomfort while increasing quality of life and survival time.
The patients were selected for the study due to the similarity of their disease’s stage, and because each of them received nearly identical treatments. Each patient underwent surgery to remove tumors and malignant tissues, after which they were administered a heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy regimen. The chemotherapy treatment was comprised of two drugs thought to be more effective acting in tandem, cisplatin and doxorubicin, and was applied directly to the site of the removed tumor after being warmed to improve absorption. All but one of the patients recovered from the treatment.
The study consisted of observing the recovery of each patient in light of their distinguishing characteristics in terms of age, gender, lifestyle and more. The average survival was thirty months after surgery, with individual survival rates ranging from as low as four months. The results were certainly interesting, although the researchers were quick to note that they are still preliminary.
Age and gender played important roles in survival, with women surviving an average of three times longer than men after treatment and, unexpectedly, patients under fifty five years old surviving just a third of the time that older patients did. Researchers believed that the women who participated in the study may have been afflicted with less aggressive tumors. They also noted that incidents of cancer in younger patients may indicate the disease was more aggressive in the first place, making it able to overcome a relatively healthy immune system.
Whether or not the patients were smokers had a serious impact on survival as well. Non-smokers, on average, remained relatively free of malignant cell growth for eleven months after surgery, while smokers redeveloped cancerous tissues just four months after their tumors were removed. Cigarette smoking introduces a variety of known carcinogens into the body, which probably accounts for the faster return of malignant cells in some patients.
Drinking alcohol and a history of regular drinking also affected survival rates, with non-drinkers surviving far longer than regular drinkers after initial treatment. The researchers were unsure why drinking alcohol would impact survival and hope to better understand the phenomena after fully analyzing the results of the study.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 7:32 AM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
No comments:
Post a Comment