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Vol.48 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Original Article -
Topical Interferon Treatment in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
Yoshiki Kobayashi1, Hirotaka Yasuba1, Hideo Kita1, Tetsu Yamada2, Wataru Chiba2, Shigeki Hitomi21Department of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine, 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Takatsuki Red Cross Hospital, Japan
Background. Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a refractory disease with poor prognosis. Most MPM advances intrathoracically with pleural effusion and tumor growth that induces respiratory failure. Cases. We provided topical interferon (IFN) treatment for 4 patients with MPM, mainly to control pleural effusion and chest wall tumor. Three cases (cases no. 1-3) received IFN-α and one case (case no. 4) received IFN-β. Intrathoracic IFN-α injections temporarily reduced pleural effusion in cases no. 1-3, who had 28-, 40-, 43-month survival, respectively. In case no. 4, intrathoracic and intratumoral IFN-β injections along with chemotherapy (gemcitabine plus cisplatin) induced marked reduction of pleural effusion and tumor size. As adverse effects, all cases, except for case 4, who also received chemotherapy, had only grade 1 fever. Conclusion. Topical IFN treatment for MPM was tolerable and useful for local control.
key words: Interferon, Malignant pleural mesothelioma, Topical treatment
Received: September 7, 2007
Accepted: November 27, 2007
JJLC 48 (1): 39-42, 2008
