Etoposide and mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Etoposide and mesothelioma, by E.F. Smit, H.H. Berendsen, P.E. Postmus (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 1990).

The study

• Authors: E.F. Smit, H.H. Berendsen, P.E. Postmus
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology
• Published: 1990;8(7):1281
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor from University Hospital Groningen in the Netherlands describing one patient (a case report). The authors noted that mesothelioma is difficult to treat and that results of radiotherapy and chemotherapy had been inconsistent and unsatisfying. They described a 49-year-old patient referred because of pain over the right side of the chest. Scans showed a mass on the right side of the chest, and tissue examination confirmed mesothelioma. The patient took the chemotherapy drug etoposide by mouth, 50 mg twice daily for 21 days on a 5-week schedule. During the first cycle he improved clinically and could take less oral morphine. After the second course, a CT scan showed a partial response. Side effects were partial hair loss and mild myelosuppression (reduced blood cell production), with no major toxicity observed. Four months after starting treatment he was in good clinical condition and the tumor was still regressing. The letter did not mention asbestos exposure. The authors concluded that the case showed activity of daily oral etoposide and that further study in this cancer was warranted.

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: case report (letter to the editor describing a single patient)
• Who was studied: One 49-year-old patient referred to University Hospital Groningen, the Netherlands, with pain over the right hemithorax and a histologic diagnosis of mesothelioma
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure is described. The treatment reported was daily oral etoposide, 50 mg twice daily, for 21 days on a 5-week schedule
• Main results:
  • During the first cycle of chemotherapy the patient improved clinically and was able to reduce his intake of oral morphine
  • After the second course, a partial response was measured by CT scan
  • Side effects were partial alopecia (hair loss) and mild myelosuppression; no major toxicity was observed
  • Four months after the start of chemotherapy the patient was in good clinical condition and the tumor was still in regression
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that this case showed activity of daily oral etoposide in a tumor believed to be almost unresponsive to chemotherapy, and that further exploration of daily oral etoposide in mesothelioma is warranted

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: Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Oral etoposide in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. A phase II study — L. Tammilehto, P. Maasilta, et al. (1994)
• A phase I study of sequential intravenous topotecan and etoposide in lung cancer patients — C. Huisman, P.E. Postmus, et al. (2001)
• Randomised phase II study of cisplatin-etoposide versus infusional carboplatin in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and mesothelioma — S.C. White, H. Anderson, et al. (2000)
• Characterization of cancer stem cell properties of CD24 and CD26-positive human malignant mesothelioma cells — H. Yamazaki, M. Naito, et al. (2012)
• Prognostic factors in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma at a large tertiary referral center — R.M. Flores, M. Zakowski, et al. (2007)
• Intrapleural cisplatin and cytarabine in the management of malignant pleural effusions: a Lung Cancer Study Group trial — V.W. Rusch, R. Figlin, et al. (1991)

Browse more research in Journal of Clinical Oncology, or return to medical research.