Secondline Chemotherapy Versus Best Supportive Care in Patient with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Mesothelioma is a rare neoplasm arising from mesothelial surfaces with the malignant pleuralmesothelioma (MPM) as the most common form. Secondline chemotherapy in MPM is still controversial andin this study we evaluated whether it is superior to best supportive care. Materials and
Methods: A total of 51patients with MPM from Acibadem Kayseri Hospital, Kayseri Training and Research Hospital and ErciyesUniversity were analyzed retrospectively. The patients treated with secondline chemotherapies (SLCT) werecompared with those treated with best supportive care (BSC) for overall survival.
Results: The median overallsurvival (OS) for firstline chemotherapygSLCT and firstline chemotherapygBSC groups were 20.3 and 14.7months respectively (p=0.079). After firstline chemotherapy the median OS for SLCT and BSC were 5.9 and4.7 months (p=0.355). Discussion: Although there was a trend for improvement in overall survival in patientstreated with secondline chemotherapy, the difference was not statistically significant. Our results do not supportthe proposal that secondline chemotherapy could be effective in patients with MPM.