Successful therapy of peritoneal mesothelioma with intraperitoneal chemotherapy alone. A case report

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is a disease that remains relatively refractory to conventional intravenous chemotherapy with currently available agents. Single-agent and combination chemotherapy offer a response rate of 20%. Direct intraperitoneal administration of some chemotherapeutic agents results in a significant pharmacologic advantage with much greater area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC). We report a case of a patient with peritoneal mesothelioma treated with combination intraperitoneal cisplatin and Ara-C who achieved a pathologic complete remission. This patient is still alive and has been in complete remission for 53 months. This combination of intraperitoneal chemotherapy deserves further evaluation in malignant mesothelioma.