Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Analysis of 70 Cases in the Last Decade

Our plain-English summary of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Analysis of 70 Cases in the Last Decade, by F. Garcia-Prieto, S.C. Pardo, M.T.R. Ramírez, et al (Open Respiratory Archives, 2024).

The study

• Authors: F. Garcia-Prieto, S.C. Pardo, M.T.R. Ramírez, A.A. Fernández
• Journal: Open Respiratory Archives
• Published: 2024;6(2):100326
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This scientific letter described all 70 patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma at Getafe University Hospital, Spain, from January 2008 to December 2021, using medical records. Fifty-three (76%) were men, and the mean age was 71 years. The authors reported an average annual incidence of 4.89 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Asbestos exposure was confirmed from medical history in 43 patients (61%). The letter did not name fiber types or jobs. The most common symptoms at diagnosis were shortness of breath (59%) and chest pain (53%), and 60 patients (86%) had pleural effusion (fluid around the lung). Median survival was 10 months overall. Among patients who underwent surgery it was 17 months, among those given chemotherapy 10 months, and among those given palliative care 3 months. By tissue type it was 12 months for epithelioid, 6 for sarcomatoid and 3 for mixed. The authors concluded that their area has a high incidence of this cancer linked to asbestos exposure, and that sarcomatoid and mixed types had worse prognoses. They named the single-center, retrospective design as limitations. Some figures differ between the text and the table.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: retrospective single-center descriptive case series, published as a scientific letter
• Who was studied: 70 patients diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma at Getafe University Hospital (Getafe, south Madrid, Spain) between January 2008 and December 2021; 53 (76%) men, mean age 71 years (SD 8.3)
• Exposure: asbestos exposure, confirmed from medical history in 43 of 70 cases (61%); no fiber types, products or jobs specified
• Main results:
  • Average annual incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma was 4.89 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
  • Most frequent symptoms at diagnosis: dyspnea 41 (59%), chest pain 37 (53%), cough 26 (37%), weight loss 16 (23%)
  • Pleural effusion was present in 60 patients (86%)
  • Clinical stage: I in 36 (50%), II in 6 (9%), III in 11 (16%), IV in 18 (25%)
  • Histological subtypes in the text: epithelioid 52 (73%), mixed 10 (14%), sarcomatoid 8 (13%). Table 1 gives slightly different counts.
  • Treatments: carboplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy in 51 (73%), palliative treatment in 11 (16%), surgery (pleurectomy-decortication) in 8 (11%)
  • Overall median survival was 10 months
  • Median survival by treatment group: 17 months among patients who underwent surgical treatment, 10 months among those given chemotherapy, 3 months among those given palliative care. These are group figures, not a test of whether treatment caused the difference.
  • Median survival by subtype: 12 months for epithelioid, 6 months for sarcomatoid, 3 months for mixed
  • The authors reported that sarcomatoid and mixed types showed worse prognoses than epithelioid
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their study shows a high incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma linked to asbestos exposure
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Single center and a specific population in south Madrid, a high-incidence area, which may limit generalizability
  • Retrospective data from medical records may introduce biases and limit data quality control
  • Clinical recommendations may have changed since the data were collected

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma.

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