The IASLC Mesothelioma Staging Project: Improving Staging of a Rare Disease Through International Participation.
For nearly 40 years, there was no generally accepted staging system for malignant pleural mesothelioma. In 1994, members of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group, in collaboration with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, proposed a TNM staging system based on analyses of outcomes in retrospective surgical series and small clinical trials. Subsequently accepted by the American Joint Commission on Cancer and the Union for International Cancer Control for the sixth editions of their staging manuals, this system has since been the international staging standard. However, it has significant limitations, particularly with respect to clinical staging and to the categories for lymph node staging. Here we provide an overview of the development of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer malignant pleural mesothelioma staging database, which was designed to address these limitations through the development of a large international data set. Analyses of this database, described in papers linked to this overview, are being used to inform revisions in the eighth editions of the American Joint Commission on Cancer and Union for International Cancer Control staging systems.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York. Electronic address: harvey.pass@nyumc.org.
Harvey
H
Pass
Cancer Research And Biostatistics, Seattle, Washington.
Dorothy
D
Giroux
University of Sydney, Putney, New South Wales, Australia.
Catherine
C
Kennedy
Thoracic Surgery, University of Turin, Chieri, Italy.
Enrico
E
Ruffini
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Ayten K
AK
Cangir
Department of Thoracic Surgery, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
David
D
Rice
National Cancer Center, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Hisao
H
Asamura
Glenfield Hospital, Groby Road, Leicestershire, United Kingdom.
David
D
Waller
Sheffield Teaching Hospital, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
John
J
Edwards
Division of Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Walter
W
Weder
Thoraxklinik, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Hans
H
Hoffmann
Department of Thoracic Oncology, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium.
Jan P
JP
van Meerbeeck
University of Western Australia, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia.
Anna
A
Nowak
Thoracic Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York.
Valerie W
VW
Rusch
D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D000086002:Mesothelioma, Malignant; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D035583:Rare Diseases / Q000145:classification*; D012042:Registries
Mesothelioma; Registry; Staging; TNM