A 2008 study published in Lancet, a 185-year-old prestigious British medical journal, analyzed the impact of chemotherapy on active symptom control treatment in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. The authors of the scientific study explained the motivation for the analysis lies in the fact that active symptom control is commonly recommended for managing the rare cancer, but medical researchers and professionals have yet to come to a consensus on the role of chemotherapy in mesothelioma treatment.

To further explore the effects of chemotherapy, researchers investigated whether the use of chemotherapy in conjunction with active symptom control improved survival rate and quality of life among the patients. A total of 409 participants with malignant pleural mesothelioma, sourced from 76 centers in the United Kingdom and two in Australia, were randomly assigned to either active symptom control treatments alone or active control treatments in conjunction with one of two chemotherapy medications. Active symptom control treatments included steroids, bronchodilators, analgesic medications, and palliative radiotherapy.

Follow-up with patients took place every three to 21 weeks after random assignment to treatment, and then every 8 weeks thereafter. The two groups receiving different chemotherapy medication were combined for analysis and compared with the group receiving only active symptom control treatment.

In comparison to the group only receiving active symptom control treatment, the researchers found a small, non-significant survival benefit in combining chemotherapy with active symptom control methods. In analyzing the quality of life among the participants, the researchers found no difference among the three groups.

The researchers concluded that the addition of chemotherapy to active symptom control presents no significant benefit or advances in survival rates or quality of life in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients. The study did find a slight increased rate of survival among patients treated with the chemotherapy medication vinorelbine, and suggested the results warrant further analysis of the treatment.

Content provided by Mesothelioma Cancer Center