Double cancer comprising malignant pleural mesothelioma and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung treated with radiotherapy: A case report

Abstract

Pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) is the surgical treatment of choice for early malignant mesothelioma, but it remains unclear whether radiotherapy along with P/D should be used as multimodal treatment for this disease. We herein present the case of a 76-year-old man with a history of asbestos exposure who was diagnosed with left-sided malignant pleural mesothelioma in February 2010. The patient underwent chemotherapy with a combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed and achieved stable disease, after which time he was kept under observation. A positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan performed in February 2011 revealed nodular shadows with fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in S3 of the left lung; using bronchoscopy, the patient was diagnosed with stage IIB (cT3N0M0) primary squamous cell carcinoma. Chemoradiotherapy with vinorelbine and 60 Gy/20 fr radiotherapy was performed, and a partial response was obtained, suggesting that the radiotherapy used to treat the carcinoma of the lung may have also helped control the disease activity of the pre-existing mesothelioma. The present case indicates the value of radiotherapy in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. The aim of the present study was to examine the possibility of new multimodal treatments for mesothelioma, along with a discussion of the relevant literature.

Successful treatment of simultaneous malignant pleural mesothelioma and pulmonary adenocarcinoma: A case report

“…In a database analysis of ~3,800 patients with malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer as a complication was only reported in 18 (0.5%) patients (26). To the best of our knowledge, 27 such cases have been previously reported in the literature (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22), but none of the reports described the lung cancer as invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma. Distinguishing between malignant pleural mesothelioma and advanced-stage lung cancer is challenging (27), which may be a reason for the low frequency of reported cases.…”

“…In addition, in the past few decades, lung cancer has become the leading cause of cancer death in men worldwide (3). Asbestos exposure is a common risk factor for malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer (4); however, their coexistence is relatively rare (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22). Combination therapy with cisplatin + pemetrexed is an active regimen for malignant pleural mesothelioma and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (23,24).…”

Simultaneous presence of lung adenocarcinoma and malignant pleural mesothelioma: A case report

“…However, the co-presence of MPM and lung cancer is rare. To the best of our knowledge, only 26 such cases have been previously reported in the literature ( Table 1 ) [ [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. A study investigating patients with malignant mesothelioma showed that the complication of lung cancer was detected in only 6 of 500 patients (1.2%) [ 3 ].…”

“…Among the aforementioned 26 cases with co-presence of MPM and lung cancer, survival data were available for nine patients [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 8 , 13 , 15 , 17 ]. Seven of those patients survived for <1 year [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 13 , 15 ], whereas only two patients (reported by Kishimoto et al and Negi et al) survived for >1 year (23 months and 45 months, respectively) [ 8 , 17 ]. However, in the case reported by Kishimoto, MPM was diagnosed 1 year after the diagnosis of lung cancer.…”

“…Asbestos exposure is recognized as a risk factor for the development of both MPM and lung cancer [ [1] , [2] , [3] ]. However, the co-presence of MPM and lung cancer is rare [ [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] ]. Herein, we report a rare case of simultaneous presence of lung adenocarcinoma and MPM.…”