Background: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare but deadly malignancy with about 3,000 new cases being diagnosed each year in the US. Very few studies have been performed to analyze factors associated with mesothelioma survival, especially for peritoneal presentation. The overarching aim of this study is to examine survival of the cohort of patients with malignant mesothelioma enrolled in the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB). Methods: 888 cases of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases were selected from the NMVB database, which houses over 1400 cases that were diagnosed from 1990 to 2017. Kaplan Meier’s method was performed for survival analysis. The association between prognostic factors and survival was estimated using Cox Hazard Regression method and using R software for analysis. Results:The median overall survival (OS) rate of all MM patients, including pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases is 15 months (14 months for pleural and 31 months for peritoneal). Significant prognostic factors associated with improved survival of malignant mesothelioma cases in this NMVB cohort were below the age of 45, female gender, epithelioid histological subtype, stage I, peritoneal occurrence, and had treatment that consisted of combining surgical therapy with chemotherapy. Combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment was associated with improved survival of 23 months in comparison to single line therapies. Conclusions:There has not been improvement in the overall survival for patients with malignant mesothelioma over many years with current available treatment options. Our findings show that combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment in peritoneal mesothelioma is associated with improved survival compared to local therapy alone.
Background: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare but deadly malignancy with about 3,000 new cases being diagnosed each year in the US. Very few studies have been performed to analyze factors associated with mesothelioma survival, especially for peritoneal presentation. The overarching aim of this study is to examine survival of the cohort of patients with malignant mesothelioma enrolled in the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB). Methods: 888 cases of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases were selected from the NMVB database, which houses data and associated biospecimens for over 1400 cases that were diagnosed from 1990 to 2017. Kaplan Meier’s method was performed for survival analysis. The association between prognostic factors and survival was estimated using Cox Hazard Regression method and using R software for analysis. Results: The median overall survival (OS) rate of all MM patients, including pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma cases is 15 months (14 months for pleural and 31 months for peritoneal). Significant prognostic factors associated with improved survival of malignant mesothelioma cases in this NMVB cohort were younger than 45, female gender, epithelioid histological subtype, stage I, peritoneal occurrence, and having combination treatment of surgical therapy with chemotherapy. Combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment was associated with improved survival of 23 months in comparison to single line therapies. Conclusions: There has not been improvement in the overall survival for patients with malignant mesothelioma over many years with current available treatment options. Our findings show that combined surgical and chemotherapy treatment in peritoneal mesothelioma is associated with improved survival compared to local therapy alone.
24 August 2017 in Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Background: Pipelle endometrial biopsy is vital for the early diagnostics of endometrial pathology and is performed in outpatient setting in minimally invasive manner. One of the reported disadvantages of sampling with Pipelle curette is failure to collect enough tissue for histological analysis. The role of psychological factors such as anxiety and pain sensitivity in obtaining adequate samples is not well known. The study's objective was to explore whether there is relationship between severe pain, anxiety, and the rate of Pipelle failure.Methods: Study included 158 women with median age of 42 who underwent Pipelle endometrial biopsy at Clinical Academic Department of Women’s Health of the University Medical Center (UMC), Nur-Sultan City, Kazakhstan with an abnormal uterine bleeding from June 2019 to April 2021. Women were asked to fill survey on pain, anxiety before, during and after the procedure.Results: 3.8%, 15.19% and 4.43% of women reported severe pain and 39.24%, 34.18% and 14.56% of women reported severe anxiety prior, during and after procedure, respectively. Women who experienced severe pain during procedure tend to be more anxious during procedure (p = 0.0001) and have higher number of sampling attempts (p = 0.0040). Pain level was higher among patients sampled by the junior OB/GYN specialist (p < 0.0001). We found no differences in Pipelle biopsy success rates in relationship to baseline, during and postprocedural pain and anxiety scores.Conclusion: Anxiety during procedure performance was significantly associated with severe pain during the procedure but did not represent a key element for the success of Pipelle biopsy.