Systematic review on pleurectomy/decortication in the multimodality treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor of pleural membranes with a dismal prognosis. Following diagnosis survival is usually less than 12 months. The treatment is therefore very often palliative. In selected cases with early stage disease surgical resection is possible. Several studies have now shown that combination treatment with chemotherapy (CHT), radiotherapy (RT) and radical surgery lead to an increased overall survival (OS). This review analyzes the long-term results of the two different types of radical surgery included in the multimodality treatment: extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) and pleurectomy/decortication (P/D). Recent studies have shown P/D to have less morbidity with comparable or better OS compared with EPP while enabling more patients to complete multimodality treatment.