Invited commentary

Our plain-English summary of Invited commentary, by D. Rice (The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 2010).

The study

• Author: D. Rice
• Journal: The Annals of Thoracic Surgery
• Published: 2010;89(1):210-1
• Type of article: Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a short invited commentary that reported no patient data of its own. It discussed a separate study by Politi and Borzellino on second operations for malignant pleural mesothelioma that recurred after extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). The author noted that in Politi and Borzellino's study, tumor recurrence developed in 53 of 57 patients (93%) after EPP. The author called the findings of interest despite the small sample size. The author pointed out that 3 of 8 recurrences that were operated on were in the retrocrural region. The author suggested intensity-modulated radiation may improve local control there, and that PET scanning before removing a suspected local recurrence seemed rational. Politi and Borzellino reported an overall median survival of 14.5 months. The author noted that patients who had chest wall resection survived 14 to 29 months, which the author said appeared better than expected. The author concluded that, in a very small subset of patients with an isolated local recurrence after EPP, Politi and Borzellino showed repeat resection can occasionally be done safely, an option to consider particularly where radiotherapy would not be feasible.

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: invited commentary (opinion piece on another study; no new data)
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The commentary discussed Politi and Borzellino's study of 57 patients treated with extrapleural pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma, focusing on those who had a second operation for recurrence.
• Main results:
  • The author reported that in Politi and Borzellino's study, tumor recurrence developed in 53 of 57 patients (93%) after EPP.
  • The author noted that in Politi and Borzellino's study, 3 of 8 recurrences that were operated on occurred in the retrocrural region. The author said this area can be difficult to treat with conventional adjuvant radiotherapy and suggested that intensity-modulated radiation may improve local control there.
  • The author's view was that it would seem rational to perform PET before any attempt to resect a suspected local recurrence.
  • Politi and Borzellino reported an overall median survival of 14.5 months. The author noted that survival of their patients who underwent chest wall resection ranged from 14 to 29 months, which the author said would appear to be better than expected in this group.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, in a very small subset of patients with an isolated local recurrence after EPP, Politi and Borzellino showed that repeat resection can occasionally be performed safely. The author described this as an option to consider, particularly where radiotherapy would not be feasible.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author noted the small sample size of the Politi and Borzellino study being discussed.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Second surgery for recurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma after extrapleural pneumonectomy — L. Politi, G. Borzellino (2010)
• Invited commentary — R.M. Flores (2014)
• Invited commentary — B.C. Tong (2014)
• Invited commentary — C.P. Clarke (2011)
• Invited commentary — L. Lang-Lazdunski (2015)
• Invited commentary — V.W. Rusch (2015)

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