A group of doctors based in London have released the results of a study conducted to analyze the value of chemotherapy for patients with mesothelioma.  Specifically Richard Stephens and Professor Mahesh Parmar, Medical Research Council, Clinical Trials Unit, London, United Kingdom conducted the Cancer Research UK-funded, randomized trial involving 409 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma from 76 medical centers in the United Kingdom and 2 in Australia.

The patients were divided into three groups: one group received “active symptom control” and no other treatment.  The other two groups underwent two forms of chemotherapy plus the active symptom control.  At the end of one year, 29% of the patients receiving no chemotherapy were alive.  One of the chemotherapy groups had 32% of its members still surviving, while the other had 37% of its members still alive.

Analysis of the quality of life in each of the groups, including physical functioning, pain, shortness of breath, and overall health status, were similar.  The physicians concluded that there was little statistical evidence of improved survival rates when comparing patients who had no chemotherapy to those who had received the two particular types of chemotherapy applied in the study.

When the analysis was completed sometime after the one-year mark, When the analysis was performed, 393 (96%) of the patients had died. 132 of these came from the ASC only group, 132 came from one chemotherapy  group, and 129 came from the other.