[Multimodality therapy for diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma]

Despite the rising incidence of diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), there is still no standard treatment for this disease, and the prognosis for patients remains poor. Recently, long-term survival has been reported when multimodality therapy is used, combining extrapleural pneumonectomy with perioperative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy in highly selected patients. We report a case of a patient who presented with MPM, accompanied by a large malignant pleural effusion and pneumothorax, who was successfully treated with combination therapy. After being diagnosed with epithelial type MPM using thoracoscopic surgery, the patient underwent extrapleural pneumonectomy. Examination of the surgical specimen revealed invasion of the chest wall muscle and fat, as well as several positive mediastinal lymph nodes. The patient received 2 courses of postoperative chemotherapy using cisplatin and gemcitabine. He is currently alive and has been disease-free for 2 years.