Clinicopathologic and survival characteristics of malignant pleural mesothelioma registered in hospital cancer registry.

Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare but fatal thoracic tumor, which in the majority of patients is caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers. We aimed at presenting clinicopathological and treatment outcomes of 60 patients of MPM registered in our hospital cancer registry.

Materials And Methods: Demographic characteristics of patients, exposure to asbestos, smoking habit, their clinicopathologic characteristics and survival analysis were described.

Results: Sixty patients had MPM. Forty patients (66.7%) were men. The mean age of patients was 55.8±11 years. Chest pain and dyspnea were the most prevalent symptoms (31.7%, and 30%, respectively). Thirty-six (61.7%) patients reported asbestos exposure. The median survival and Progression free survival (PFS) were 10.5 months (0.95CI=9.22-11.78) and 7.57 months (0.95CI=5.68-9.45), respectively. In multivariate analysis, exposure to asbestos and epithelioid subtype significantly extended the survival time. Bilateral involvement, high blood level of LDH and platelet count ≥400,000 significantly shortened the overall survival.

Conclusion: MPM is still an important health problem in Iran. Given the aforementioned results, developing a national program to eliminate asbestos-related diseases according to the world health organization (WHO) recommendation is necessary.