Current and Future Management of Malignant Mesothelioma: A Consensus Report from the National Cancer Institute Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation

Our plain-English summary of Current and Future Management of Malignant Mesothelioma: A Consensus Report from the National Cancer Institute Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, by A.S. Tsao, O.W. Lindwasser, A.A. Adjei, et al (Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 2018).

The study

• Authors: A.S. Tsao, O.W. Lindwasser, A.A. Adjei, P.S. Adusumilli, M.L. Beyers, G.M. Blumenthal, R. Bueno, B.M. Burt, M. Carbone, S.E. Dahlberg, M. de Perrot, D.A. Fennell, J. Friedberg, R.R. Gill, D.R. Gomez, D.H. Harpole, R. Hassan, M. Hesdorffer, F.R. Hirsch, J. Hmeljak, H.L. Kindler, E.L. Korn, G. Liu, A.S. Mansfield, A.K. Nowak, H.I. Pass, T. Peikert, A. Rimner, B.W.S. Robinson, K.E. Rosenzweig, V.W. Rusch, R. Salgia, B. Sepesi, C.B. Simone, R. Sridhara, P. Szlosarek, E. Taioli, M.S. Tsao, H. Yang, M.G. Zauderer, S.M. Malik
• Journal: Journal of Thoracic Oncology
• Published: 2018;13(11):1655-1667
• Cited by: 92 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

On March 28- 29, 2017, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Thoracic Malignacy Steering Committee, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation convened the NCI-International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer- Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Planning Meeting in Bethesda, Maryland. The goal of the meeting was to bring together lead academicians, clinicians, scientists, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to focus on the development of clinical trials for patients in whom malignant pleural mesothelioma has been diagnosed. In light of the discovery of new cancer targets affecting the clinical development of novel agents and immunotherapies in malignant mesothelioma, the objective of this meeting was to assemble a consensus on at least two or three practice-changing multimodality clinical trials to be conducted through NCI's National Clinical Trials Network.

Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In plain English

This article is a consensus report, not a study that collected new patient data. It described a meeting held in Bethesda, Maryland, on March 28 to 29, 2017. The meeting was organized by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Scientists, clinicians, epidemiologists, patient advocates and representatives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discussed how to design future clinical trials for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer the article describes as associated with exposure to asbestos. The report reviewed treatment and biomarker research by others. Panels recommended that surgical trials ideally be randomized. They also recommended standardizing imaging and reporting across centers, collecting blood, pleural effusion and tumor specimens in trials, and developing new trial end points. The meeting selected six topics for consensus guidelines. Participants agreed to support two potential trials: one using intensity-modulated radiotherapy after lung-sparing surgery, and a study of advanced disease called Meso-MATCH that would pair treatments with known targets along with immunotherapies.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Consensus report from a clinical trials planning meeting, with a review of other published and ongoing research; no original data
• Who was studied: Meeting participants (basic scientists, clinicians, epidemiologists, patient advocates and U.S. Food and Drug Administration representatives) in Bethesda, Maryland, March 28 to 29, 2017, focused on trials for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma; number of participants not given
• Exposure: Not an exposure study; the report concerns treatment and trial design for malignant pleural mesothelioma, which the introduction describes as associated with asbestos exposure
• Main results:
  • The early-stage panel recommended that mesothelioma surgical trials should ideally be randomized
  • The panel on unresectable disease recommended that trials collect specimens from blood, pleural effusion and tumor
  • The radiographic panel stated that imaging and reporting protocols must be made uniform across centers
  • The end-points panel stated that new alternative trial end points are needed
  • The meeting selected six topics on which to develop consensus guidelines
  • Participants agreed to support two potential NCI National Clinical Trials Network trials: intensity-modulated radiotherapy after lung-sparing surgery, and a metastatic study (Meso-MATCH)
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that future national mesothelioma trials should generate science, avoid duplicating industry trials and avoid complexity, and should focus on standardizing surgical and radiation techniques and specimen collection and on showing reproducibility in multiple centers

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Malignant Mesothelioma, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma, Clinical Trial, Pleural Mesothelioma, Discovery.

Related studies

• Radiologic Considerations and Standardization of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Imaging Within Clinical Trials: Consensus Statement from the NCI Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee - International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer - Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation Clinical Trials Planning Meeting — R.R. Gill, A.S. Tsao, et al. (2019)
• The Use of Radiation Therapy for the Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Expert Opinion from the National Cancer Institute Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation — D.R. Gomez, A. Rimner, et al. (2019)
• A Proposed System Toward Standardizing Surgical-Based Treatments for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, From the Joint National Cancer Institute-International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer-Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation Taskforce — J.S. Friedberg, M.J. Culligan, et al. (2019)
• British Thoracic Society study of cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis: current presentation and initial management. Fibrosing Alveolitis Subcommittee of the Research Committee of the British Thoracic Society — I.D. Johnston, R.J. Prescott, et al. (1997)
• Consensus Report of the 2015 Weinman International Conference on Mesothelioma — M. Carbone, S. Kanodia, et al. (2016)
• Pathologic Considerations and Standardization in Mesothelioma Clinical Trials — M.S. Tsao, M. Carbone, et al. (2019)

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