Current surgical management of malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare and very aggressive malignancy with an increasing incidence. Single-modality therapy has failed to improve median survival. Current surgical therapies include palliative and cytoreductive procedures. The rarity of the disease, the lack of randomized surgical studies, and the lack of a universally accepted and validated staging system make it difficult to reach consensus and establish stage-specific protocols. However, with strict criteria, subsets of patients can be identified who can benefit from aggressive cytoreductive surgical approaches, such as extrapleural pneumonectomy, and adjuvant chemoradiation protocols. Our experience with this type of protocol in carefully selected patients has resulted in increased median survival. The lack of cure in any of the published protocols demonstrates the need for new therapies and approaches for this disease.