title: Peritoneal mesothelioma: current status and future directions.
abstract: Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare malignancy where life expectancy with systemic chemotherapy remains poor. Most patients with this disease are diagnosed late with extensive peritoneal disease burden leading to nausea, pain, and abdominal distention as a result of ascites and a partial bowel obstruction. A newly proposed staging system comprising elements of the tumor burden measured by the peritoneal cancer index, abdominal nodal status, and extra-abdominal metastases has been demonstrated to reliably stratify patient outcomes based on staging subgroups after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. This new staging system may form the basis of selecting patients for radical surgery and improve survival outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of New South Wales, St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2217, Australia. terence.chua@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Terence C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Chanel H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006147:Guanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D010534:Peritoneal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017671:Platinum Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005971:Glutamates; D017671:Platinum Compounds; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D006147:Guanine