[A case of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma successfully treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel]

A 71-year-old woman was seen at our hospital because of abdominal fullness and dyspnea. Examinations revealed a tumor in the pelvis with fluid collection and dissemination was seen in the abdomen and chest. Moreover, hyaluronate in ascites rose to 20,000 mg/dl. Finally, by cytology of ascites using immunohistochemistry, the patient was diagnosed as malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with disseminations in the abdomen and chest. After intraperitoneal administration of 25 mg of cisplatin (CDDP), we started carboplatin (CBDCA) plus paclitaxel (PTX) combination chemotherapy (each treatment course consisted of 100 mg of PTX and 400 mg of CBDCA on day 1 and PTX 100 mg on day 8 and day 15 by intravenous administration followed by 2 drug-free weeks). After the sixth course, a complete remission was observed. Malignant mesothelioma is known to have a poor prognosis. However, we successfully treated malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with CBDCA and PTX combined chemotherapy. Our case suggests that we could improve the prognosis of malignant mesothelioma by aggressive chemotherapy.