Drs. H. Jack West, Matthew Gubens, and Jyoti Patel, gathered post ASCO 2017 to discuss new information regarding lung cancer. In this video, the doctors discuss Emerging Options for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.

Drs. Leora Horn, Ben Solomon, & Jack West review early promising data on the potential activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Drs. Ben Solomon, Leora Horn, & Jack West discuss highlights of a French randomized trial that demonstrated a significant survival benefit from addition of Avastin (bevacizumab) to cisplatin/Alimta in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

A French study presented at ASCO 2015 showed a survival benefit with Avastin (bevacizumab) added to standard chemo, unlike a prior US study. The doctors discuss the influence of this trial and future potential benefits from immunotherapy in mesothelioma.

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Dr. Thomas John is a thoracic oncologist at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Australia.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) Annual Meeting brings together 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world. Educational sessions feature world-renowned faculty discussing state-of-the-art treatment modalities, new therapies, and ongoing controversies in the field. The meeting will take place May 29 - June  2, 2015. 

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a challenging cancer to treat for many reasons, one of which being the difficulty in assessing whether there has been any meaningful change in the volume of a cancer that doesn't tend to appear as a discrete mass, but most commonly as thickening of the pleura, the lining around the lung that is normally a thin, onion skin, but can thicken to be more like an orange rind or even thicker.  We can often see this pattern in some people with lung cancer who happen to have a form of the disease that also primarily appears as pleural-based deposits of ca

What is mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a unique cancer that starts from the mesothelium, the membrane lining that contains the body cavities. Mesothelioma can arise from the pleura (lining of the lungs), pericardium (sac around the heart), peritoneum (abdominal lining), and tunica vaginalis testis (lining of the male reproductive organs). The majority of mesothelioma cases originate from the pleura.

Epidemiology and Cause of Mesothelioma

This is part 2 of my round table case discussion with Dr. Anne Tsao, a medical oncologist and thoracic oncology expert from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Dr. Alex Farivar, a thoracic surgeon with expert training in mesothelioma at Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle. This particular case covers a patient with a mesothelioma, cancer of the lining around the lung, which is also known as malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Here is the audio and video versions of the podcast, along with the transcript and figures.

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Malignant mesothelioma is a relatively rare but particularly deadly malignancy that arises from the lining of the pleural (chest) cavity or peritoneal (abdominal) cavity. About 70% of cases of mesothelioma are directly related to asbestos exposure, usually with about 30 or 40 years between exposure and diagnosis. While there are only about 2200 cases per year in the USA, this number is expected to increase over the next decade, as workers exposed to asbestos earlier in their lives eventually begin to manifest symptoms of the malignancy.