Recurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma at the resection borders--local or distant recurrence?

Our plain-English summary of Recurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma at the resection borders--local or distant recurrence?, by S. Bölükbas, M. Eberlein, J. Schirren (Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 2013).

The study

• Authors: S. Bölükbas, M. Eberlein, J. Schirren
• Journal: Journal of Thoracic Oncology
• Published: 2013;8(7):e65
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article is a letter to the editor, not an original study, and it reports no new patient data. The authors commented on an earlier study by Gomez and colleagues of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with extrapleural pneumonectomy followed by hemithoracic intensity-modulated radiation therapy. The letter cited that earlier study as reporting local recurrence in 16% of patients and distant recurrence in 59%. In that study, the contralateral (opposite-side) hemithorax was the predominant site of distant recurrence (41%; n = 35), followed by abdomen and pelvis, including liver (28%; n = 24). The authors argued that the contralateral hemithorax and the abdomen lie directly at the resection borders. They noted that the opposite pleura and the peritoneum could be opened accidentally during surgery, and that tumor cell dislocation might occur at these borders. They questioned whether such recurrences are spread through the bloodstream. The authors asked whether recurrence at these resection borders should still be considered local or distant recurrence. The letter does not discuss asbestos exposure.

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: Letter to the editor commenting on a previously published study (no original data)
• Who was studied: No patients were studied by the letter's authors. The letter discusses patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in the earlier study by Gomez et al. who had extrapleural pneumonectomy and hemithoracic intensity-modulated radiation therapy.
• Main results:
  • The letter cites the Gomez et al. study (not the letter authors' own data) as reporting local recurrence in 16% of patients and distant recurrence in 59% of patients after extrapleural pneumonectomy and hemithoracic intensity-modulated radiation therapy.
  • Also citing Gomez et al.: the predominant site of distant recurrence was the contralateral hemithorax (41%; n = 35), followed by abdomen and pelvis, including liver (28%; n = 24).
  • The letter's authors argued that the contralateral hemithorax and abdomen are located directly at the resection borders.
  • The authors noted that the contralateral pleura and peritoneum could be opened accidentally during surgery.
  • The authors questioned whether these recurrences are hematogenous (bloodstream) spread.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors did not reach a firm conclusion. They posed the question of whether recurrence at the resection borders (contralateral hemithorax, or abdomen and pelvis) should still be considered local or distant recurrence for malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Recurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma at the resection borders--local or distant recurrence? — D. Gomez, A. Tsao, et al. (2013)
• Patterns of failure, toxicity, and survival after extrapleural pneumonectomy and hemithoracic intensity-modulated radiation therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma — D.R. Gomez, D.S. Hong, et al. (2013)
• Hyperthermic intraoperative pleural cisplatin chemotherapy extends interval to recurrence and survival among low-risk patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma undergoing surgical macroscopic complete resection — D.J. Sugarbaker, R.R. Gill, et al. (2013)
• Soluble Mesothelin-Related Peptides to Monitor Recurrence After Resection of Pleural Mesothelioma — B.M. Burt, H.S. Lee, et al. (2017)
• Clinical experience of volumetric modulated arc therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma after extrapleural pneumonectomy — T. Kimura, Y. Doi, et al. (2015)
• Long-term outcomes of intensity-modulated radiotherapy following extra-pleural pneumonectomy for malignant pleural mesothelioma — Y. Matsuo, K. Shibuya, et al. (2017)

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