• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.599-603
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• 2004

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma is a lethal and rare cardiac neoplasm of mesodermal origin. Most cases are associated with history of pericarditis with constriction and/or tamponade. Authors experienced a case of primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma in a 55-year old female who had suffered from dyspnea and chest pain. Pericardial nodules revealed intense uptake by FDG-PET scan and confirmed as primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma by thoracoscopic biopsy. Here we report this case with a brief review of the relevant literatures.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8843-8846
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• 2014

Background: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is almost always fatal and few treatment options are available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of oral cyclophosphamide and etoposide for patients who underwent standard treatment for advanced MM. Materials and Methods: This study included 22 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients who were treated with oral cyclophosphamide and etoposide (EE). Results: The average follow-up period of the patients was 39.1 months. Under the treatment of oral EE, median progression-free survival was 7.7 months [95%CI HR (4.3-11.1)] and median overall survival was 28.1 months [95%CI HR (5.8-50.3)]. The treatment response rates were as follows: 4 patients (27.3%) had a partial response (PR), 12 (54.5%) had stable disease (SD), and progressive disease (PD) was observed in 6 (35.9%). Conclusions: Oral EE can be administered effectively to patients with inoperable malignant mesothelioma who had previously received standard treatments.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2015

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive, treatment-resistant, and generally fatal disease. A 68-year-old male who was diagnosed with MPM at another hospital came to our hospital with dyspnea. We advised him to take combination chemotherapy but he refused to take the treatment. That was because he had already received chemotherapy with supportive care at another hospital but his condition worsened. Thus, we recommended photodynamic therapy (PDT) to deal with the dyspnea and MPM. After PDT, the dyspnea improved and the patient then decided to take the combination chemotherapy. Our patient received chemotherapy using pemetrexed/cisplatin. Afterwards, he received a single PDT treatment and then later took chemotherapy using gemcitabine/cisplatin. The patient showed a survival time of 27 months, which is longer than median survival time in advanced MPM patients. Further research and clinical trials are needed to demonstrate any synergistic effect between the combination chemotherapy and PDT.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.493-502
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• 2020

Apigenin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, is known to exhibit significant anticancer activity. This study was designed to determine the effects of apigenin on two malignant mesothelioma cell lines, MSTO-211H and H2452, and to explore the underlying mechanism(s). Apigenin significantly inhibited cell viability with a concomitant increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and caused the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and ATP depletion, resulting in apoptosis and necroptosis in monolayer cell culture. Apigenin upregulated DNA damage response proteins, including the DNA double strand break marker phospho (p)-histone H2A.X. and caused a transition delay at the G₂/M phase of cell cycle. Western blot analysis showed that apigenin treatment upregulated protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved PARP, p-MLKL, and p-RIP3 along with an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. ATP supplementation restored cell viability and levels of DNA damage-, apoptosisand necroptosis-related proteins that apigenin caused. In addition, N-acetylcysteine reduced ROS production and improved ΔΨm loss and cell death that were caused by apigenin. In a 3D spheroid culture model, ROS-dependent necroptosis was found to be a mechanism involved in the anti-cancer activity of apigenin against malignant mesothelioma cells. Taken together, our findings suggest that apigenin can induce ROS-dependent necroptotic cell death due to ATP depletion through mitochondrial dysfunction. This study provides us a possible mechanism underlying why apigenin could be used as a therapeutic candidate for treating malignant mesothelioma.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.23 no.1 s.29
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• pp.77-86
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• 1990

Between 1977 and 1987, 20 patients with mesothelioma were treated at Severance Hospital. Data was gathered from medical charts at the time of hospitalization of mesothelioma patients and from a follow-up questionnaire by mail or telephone. The results acquired were as follows : 1. Among the 20 patients, 11 men and 9 women with mesothelioma were identified. The mean age at hospitalization was 47 years and 11 mesothelioma patients were known or presumed to be dead during the different observation periods. 2. Only one mesothelioma patient had a definite history of occupational asbestos exposure. 3. The sites of origin of mesothelioma were the pleura(13), peritoneum(2), pericardium(2), mediastinum (2), and pelvis(1). Common symptoms included dyspnea, chest pain, abdominal distension, etc. 4. Pathologically, mesotheliomas were divided into 14 malignant types and 6 benign types ; and histologically, 8 fibrous mesotheliomas and 3 epithelial mesotheliomas were shown. 5. There was a statistically significant difference in survival rate according to pathologic type and smoking status. In the groups with malignant mesothelioma, 50% survival time from first symptoms was 18 months and that from diagnosis was 11 months. Also, 75% survival time from diagnosis was 6 months in the smoking groups and 19 months in the non-smoking groups.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.297-301
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• 2015

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare malignant neoplasm that arises from mesothelial surfaces of the pleural cavity, peritoneal cavity, tunica vaginalis, or pericardium. Typically, pleural fluid cytology or closed pleural biopsy, surgical intervention (video thoracoscopic biopsy or open thoracotomy) is conducted to obtain pleural tissue specimens. However, endobronchial lesions are rarely seen and cases diagnosed from bronchoscopic biopsy are also rarely reported. We reported the case of a 77-year-old male who was diagnosed as malignant mesothelioma on bronchoscopic biopsy from obstructing masses of the endobronchial lesion.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.739-742
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• 2013

Background: This study was to evaluate the survival of patients with pleural and intraperitoneal malignant mesothelioma and to investigate the efficacy of chemotherapy (CT) as well as radiotherapy (RTH) and surgery compared to best supportive care (BSC). Materials and Methods: Forty patients with malignant mesothelioma (38 with pleural and 2 with intraperitoneal) were enrolled. Twenty seven patients underwent (CT) chemotherapy of which 2 also received (RTH) and surgery was only for biopsy in 15/40. Combination chemotherapy included cisplatin-gemcitabine, cisplatin-navelbine and cisplatin (or carboplatin) with premetrexed. Thirteen patients received only best supportive care. Results: A total of 12 (30%) patients were male, and 28 (70%) female. Median age was 54.0 years and the male/female ratio was 1/2.33 (P=0.210). Residential exposure played a major role in two regions, Helwan and Shoubra, in 20% and 15%, respectively. Overall mean survival time was $13.9{\pm}2.29$ months. That for patients who had received best supportive care was $7.57{\pm}1.85$ months, for chemotherapy was $16.5{\pm}3.20$ months, and multimodality treatment regimen $27{\pm}21.0$ months (P=0.028). Kaplan-Meier survival did not significantly vary for sex, residence and the pathological types epithelial, mixed and sarcomatous. The median survival for performance status and treatment modalities was significant (P=0.001 and 0.028). Best supportive care using opioids with a mean dose of 147.1 mg (range 0-1680) of morphine sulphate produced good subjective response and reasonable quality of life but did not affect survival. Conclusions: We conclude that CT prolongs survival compared to BSC in patients with malignant mesothelioma. Moreover, using escalating doses of opioids provides good pain relief and subjective responses.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2061-2067
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• 2014

Background: It has been demonstrated that neutrophil:lymphocyte (NLR) and platelet:lymphocyte (PLR) ratios are associated with prognosis in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether pretreatment white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, platelet, basophil and eosinophil counts, LDH level, NLR and PLR are associated with prognosis in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed files of 50 patients who were managed with a diagnosis of MPM between 2005 and 2010. Demographic and clinical characteristics, treatments, response to treatment and prognostic factors were evaluated, along with relationships between pretreatment blood parameters and prognosis. Results: Overall, 38 men and 12 women were included to the study. Mean age was $61.5{\pm}9.4$ years (range: 39-83 years). There was advanced disease in 86% (n=43) and the histological type was epithelial mesothelioma in the majority (82%). Of the cases, 17 (34%) received radiotherapy, while 42 cases underwent first- and second-line chemotherapy, with cisplatin plus pemetrexed as the most commonly used regimen. In the assessment after therapy, it was found that there was complete response in 4 cases (8%), partial response in 10 cases (20%), stable disease in 17 cases (34%) and progression in 19 cases (38%). Median follow-up was 10 months (range: 10 day-30 months). Median overall survival was found to be 20.7 months while median progression-free survival as 10 months. In univariate and multivariate analyses, it was found that factors significantly affecting overall survival included stage (p=0.030), response to treatment (p=0.026) and monocyte count (p=0.004), while factors affecting disease-free survival included NLR (p=0.018), response to treatment (p=0.001), and PLR score (p=0.003). Conclusions: Overall and disease-free survival was found to be better in cases with a WBC count<8.000, platelet count<300,000, and low NLR and PLR scores in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.170-177
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• 2024

An adult male dog was presented for hemorrhagic pericardial effusion. Echocardiography and computed tomography revealed nodule-like lesions on the pericardium. Cytology of pericardial effusion and excisional pericardial lesions indicated neoplastic effusion. Histopathology indicated an inflamed neoplasm with a primary differential diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma and malignant mesothelioma (MM). Immunohistochemistry showed that atypical cells were positive for cytokeratin and vimentin, but negative for CD31, strongly favoring pericardial MM. Postoperative NT-proBNP level remained increased, which led to the administration of epirubicin to minimize potential cardiotoxicity. During the 4 cycles of epirubicin treatment, a total cumulative dose of 108 mg/m² was administrated and no effusion recurrence was observed. After a month post-completion of chemotherapy, however, pleural effusion was detected with cardiac masses. The owner requested no further diagnostic investigations and chemotherapy. Due to deteriorating conditions, the dog died 132 days after the first presentation. Our case is the first notable attempt to treat canine malignant mesothelioma with epirubicin, providing the clinicopathologic, diagnostic routine, and clinical course of the affected dog.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.sup1
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• pp.157-161
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• 2008

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) has a poor prognosis and a strong association with exposure to asbestos. Although there are not generally accepted guidelines for treatment of MPM, recent reports suggest that multi modality therapy combining chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery can improve the survival of patients with MPM. Therefore exact staging is required to decide the best treatment option. However, it is well known that there are many difficulties in determining precise preoperative stage, predicting prognosis, and monitoring response to therapy with conventional imaging modalities such as CT and MRI in MPM. Recently PET with $^{18}F-FDG$ comes into the spotlight as an important staging method. There is increasing evidence that PET is superior to other conventional imaging modalities in diagnosis and staging of MPM. Particularly PET/CT improves the diagnostic and staging accuracy over PET or CT alone in MPM because it provides anatomic imaging data as well as functional information. PET and PET/CT are also useful for monitoring response to therapy and SUV is reported as a prognostic factor in MPM.