Raleigh, North Carolina - Doctors in New York say lung-removing mesothelioma surgery results in more than twice as many deaths in the first thirty days as less radical lung-sparing surgery.

Mesothelioma researchers with the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Health System analyzed studies between 1990 and 2014 comparing lung-removing extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) and lung-sparing pleurectomy/decortication (P/D). Their goal was to settle the debate over which one is better for treating malignant pleural mesothelioma.

“The reanalysis of the large number of studies comparing P/D to EPP suggests that P/D is associated with a 2 ½-fold lower short-term mortality (perioperatively and within 30 days) than EPP,” concludes author Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD.

Writing in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, the authors conclude that P/D should be the preferred type of mesothelioma surgery whenever feasible.

“The decision about whether to have surgery and which type of surgery to have is one of the more difficult and important decisions that many mesothelioma patients face,” says Surviving Mesothelioma’s Managing Editor, Alex Strauss. “To make the most informed decision, it is crucial for patients and their families to have all of the facts and this study gives them some important new information to consider.”

For more information on the two types of mesothelioma surgeries and the details of the new study, see Lung-Sparing Mesothelioma Surgery Results in Fewer Short-Term Deaths, now available on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.

Taioli, E et al, “Meta-Analysis of Survival After Pleurectomy Decortication Versus Extrapleural Pneumonectomy in Mesothelioma”, December 20, 2014, Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Epub ahead of print, http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975%2814%2901926-2/abstract

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