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- Original Article -

A Clinical Study of 34 Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Patients Treated with Pemetrexed from Nagasaki Thoracic Oncology Group

Takaya Ikeda¹, Yoichi Nakamura¹, Minoru Fukuda², Masaaki Fukuda³, Hiroshi Soda⁴, Akitoshi Kinoshita⁵, Yoshifumi Soejima⁶, Shigeru Kohno^1
1Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University Hospital, Japan, ²Department of Respiratory Medicine, Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital, Japan, ³Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization (NHO) Nagasaki Medical Center, Japan, ⁴Department of Internal Medicine, Sasebo General Hospital, Japan, ⁵Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki Prefecture Shimabara Hospital, Japan, ⁶Department of Respiratory Medicine, NHO Ureshino Medical Center, Japan

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Objective. We analyzed the clinical features and outcomes of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients treated with pemetrexed. Method. From February 2007 to December 2009, 34 patients enrolled with the Nagasaki Thoracic Oncology Group were treated with pemetrexed. Results. Of the 34 patients, 28 were men and 6 were women with a median age of 68 years old (range 53 to 81). Twenty-six patients (76.5%) had exposed to asbestos. The histological subtype was epithelioid in 16 patients, sarcomatoid in 10 patients, biphasic in 5 patients, unknown in 3 patients. Twenty-five patients were chemotherapy-naïve patients and 8 patients had received prior chemotherapy. Thirty patients had received pemetrexed and cisplatin chemotherapy. Three patients had received pemetrexed and carboplatin chemotherapy. One patient had received pemetrexed monotherapy. In pemetrexed (500 mg/m²) and cisplatin (75 mg/m²) group, grade 3 or 4 leukocytopenia was recorded in 2 patients (8.3%), grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was recorded in 5 patients (20.8%), grade 3 or 4 gastrointestinal toxicities were recorded in 2 patients (8.3%). The response rate was 12.5%, the median survival was 14.4 months. Conclusion. In this study clinical efficacy and toxicities of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients treated with pemetrexed and cisplatin chemotherapy are comparable to previous prospective studies.
key words: Malignant pleural mesothelioma, Pemetrexed, Cisplatin, Chemotherapy

Received: January 23, 2012
Accepted: July 3, 2012

JJLC 52 (4): 371-374, 2012