Dramatic Tumor Response to 2nd-line Pemetrexed/Cisplatin Combination Chemotherapy in Patient with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.. |
Seung Min Lee, Soon Young Ko, Tae Ho Seo, Jung Hyun Lee, Seung Oh Choi, Jeong Geun Lee, Wan Seop Kim, Tae Hoon Lee, Gwang Ha Yoo, Kye Young Lee |
1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. kyleemd@kuh.ac.kr 2Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. 3Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. |
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Abstract |
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumor that is difficult to clearly distinguish from an adenocarcinoma but usually has a poor prognosis. Numerous cytotoxic agents have been used in the primary treatment of MPM with limited success. A complete response is unusual and a partial response occurs in less than one-third of patients. Recently, a phase III trial showed that a combination of pemetrexed with cisplatin resulted in a significantly higher response rate and median survival time than with cisplatin alone. We encountered a case of a dramatic tumor response to pemetrexed/cisplatin combination chemotherapy in patients with MPM, which was resistant to the 1st-line gemcitabine/cisplatin therapy. After six cycles of pemetrexed/cisplatin combination chemotherapy, the tumor volume had decreased dramatically with complete symptom relief. There was no chemotherapy-related toxicity or scheduled violation. The patient is under maintenance chemotherapy with the same regimen. |
Key Words:
Malignant pleural mesothelioma, Pemetrexed, Cisplatin |
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