Recent Australian study has assessed prognostic aspects for patients with peritoneal mesothelioma who have underwent cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).

The HIPEC procedure consists of a combination of surgery and the use of a heated chemotherapy liquid that is spread throughout the patient's abdominal cavity while they are in the surgical room.

The chemotherapy drug's general effectiveness has been found to increase through the use of the high temperature liquid.

The survival rate for patients with mesothelioma is usually very low, and though life expectancy for most falls in between four to 18 months following diagnosis and available treatments, they do not cure the condition.

The research involved 20 patients with mesothelioma at St George Hospital, where scientists used Kaplan-Meier technique to measure their survival duration following treatments.

The results showed average survival duration for the average age of patients - which was 55 years old - was 30 months. The survival duration of one and three-year period were 78 per cent and 46 per cent.

The average time of disease-free survival for all patients involved was 8 months.

Longer disease-free survival was influenced by these criteria - aged 55 or more, female, and those with an epithelial subtype.

Other prognostic indicators that influenced the overall survival included, complete cytoreduction, not drinking alcohol and the presence of epitheliod tumours.

The research determined risk factors proven prognostic for survival were not smoking, not drinking alcohol, female gender and having an epitheliod subtype.

Medicine