E Ef ff fe ec ct t o of f h he em mi it th ho or ra ax x i ir rr ra ad di ia at ti io on n a al lo on ne e o or r c co om mb bi in ne ed d w wi it th h d do ox xo or ru ub bi ic ci in n a an nd d c cy yc cl lo op ph ho os sp ph ha am mi id de e i in n 4 47 7 p pl le eu ur ra al l m me es so ot th he el li io om ma as s: : a a n no on nr ra an nd do om mi iz ze ed Only 3 of the 47 (95% confidence interval (95% CI) -0.6-13%) irradiated tumours responded with a partial response (PR). In 31 patients treated with RT alone, one PR was observed; whereas, in the combined treatment group, 2 out of 16 responded with PR to RT. CT with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide induced only 2 out of 16 PRs (95% CI -3.4-28.4%), and the combined treatment consisting of RT followed by CT induced 2 out of 16 PRs. The median survival following the initiation of RT was 7 months in all patients (n=47), 6 months in the RT group (n=31), and 13 months in the combined RTCT group (n=16). Chest pain, performance status and body weight were not favourably affected by the radiotherapy.We conclude that hemithorax irradiation of pleural mesotheliomas with a moderately high dose is not useful, since it produces no improvement in chest pain, few objective tumour responses and no prolongation of survival.

No abstract