title: The clinicopathological characteristics with long-term outcomes in malignant mesothelioma.
abstract: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a neoplasm which originates from serous membranes. It is relatively more common in Turkey. Ninety-nine patients between 2002-2009 were evaluated for survival and patient characteristics with chest pain, dyspnea, weight loss, loss of appetite, anemia, leukocytosis, thrombocytosis and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) elevation, retrospectively. Male/female ratio was 1.41(58/41). Median age was 53(27-88). Asbestosis exposure rate was 78.5%. Most of the patients had better ECOG-PS (88.7% for 1-2). Chest pain (47.7%), dyspnea (44.8%), weight loss (49%), loss of appetite (50%), anemia (38%), leukocytosis (37.2%), thrombocytosis (26.6%) and LDH elevation (10.1%) were found with median values such as 11.8 g/dL (5-17.1) for hemoglobin, 8,800/mm3 for WBC (2,600-38,300), 382,000/mm(3) for platelets (28,000-1,504,000) and 253 IU/L for LDH (85-1,877), respectively. The most common site was pleura (62.3%). Half of the patients were unclassified, while epitheloid histopathology (39.4%) was most common in classified ones. RT rate was 42.1% in operated patients and all had pleural MM. Median OS was 22.9 months. Eighty percent of the patients had first-line CT with a clinical benefit rate of 63.3%. Second-line CT rate was 29% with a clinical benefit rate of 44%. Most preferred CT regimen was cisplatinum and pemetrexed. Most of the patients were male in their 50 s with pleural MM. They had chest pain, dyspnea, weight loss and loss of appetite as the most common symptoms at diagnosis. Only half of the patients could be subtyped with a predominance of epitheloid histology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, 06100, Altindag, Ankara, Turkey, mutludogan1@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mutlu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: Gungor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Utkan
authors.forename: Cemil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hocazade
authors.forename: Dogan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Uncu
authors.forename: Serife
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toptas
authors.forename: Nuriye
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Nurullah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zengin
authors.forename: Fikri
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Icli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000175:diagnosis; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000175:diagnosis; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D000086002:Mesothelioma, Malignant; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D015431:Weight Loss