Abstract
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a relatively rare, aggressive, and heterogeneous disease in both tumor architecture and treatment response. This intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneity necessitates a multidisciplinary treatment plan for patients that is modified over the course of their disease. Currently, radiation therapy (RT) is most commonly used in the palliative setting to manage symptoms in patients with advanced disease. Definitive standard treatment options in patients incorporate RT in conjunction with surgical cytoreduction and chemotherapy, although local tumor recurrence is still common. Advances in RT delivery technology to improve tumor selectivity, in combination with immunotherapies and advances in surgical techniques, will increase the potential for RT-assisted durable local control for MPM. Continued innovation in RT, supported by clinical trials to determine optimal multidisciplinary care strategies, has enormous potential to improve morbidity and survival in patients with MPM.
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This work was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health P01-CA087971.
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Cramer, G.M., Simone, C.B., Busch, T.M., Cengel, K.A. (2023). Advances in Radiation Therapy for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. In: Jeremić, B. (eds) Advances in Radiation Oncology in Lung Cancer. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2022_333
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