Radiation Oncology Research
Presented at ASTRO
SAN FRANCISCO, November 6-7, 2001 -
Following are highlights from research presented by researchers at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) during this week's annual meeting of the
American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO).
High Dose
Radiation Therapy Improves Survival in Patients with Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma, a
rare but extremely lethal type of lung cancer affecting the lining of the lung,
has always been a challenge to treat. A new study finds that extensive surgery
(removal of the lung and the lining of the lung) followed by high dose radiation
therapy is well tolerated, and may improve local disease control and survival
rates.
About 2,200 cases
of mesothelioma are diagnosed per year, the majority of which are caused by
environmental exposure to asbestos.
"For many years we
were unable to give too much radiation to the chest because of extreme toxicity,
but new technologies and treatment techniques have helped us get around that,"
said Santosh Yajnik, MD, radiation oncologist at MSKCC and lead author of the
study. One of the reasons doctors were able to give higher doses of radiation
therapy to patients in this study was because the affected lung had been
completely removed.
In the last four
years, MSKCC has seen about 365 patients with mesothelioma, and approximately 63
patients were treated with this type of extensive surgery. This experience makes
the Center one of only a handful of hospitals in the country with expertise in
this area.
In this study, 32
patients with various stages of mesothelioma who had surgery at MSKCC between
1990 and 2000 were treated with high dose radiation therapy. The median overall
survival was 17 months compared to median survival rates of about 12 months
historically seen in patients who have surgery alone. Researchers noted that
patients with earlier stage disease experienced better survival rates than those
with late stage cancer. They also observed that patients tolerated the treatment
well without suffering high levels of toxicity.
Four patients had
local tumor recurrence, seven had local and distant recurrence, and nine
patients had distant disease recurrence. "Now that we know radiation helps with
local control, the next step is to study whether chemotherapy can further reduce
mortality rates and improve distant control of the tumor," concluded Dr. Yajnik.
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