Mesothelioma Update

By Mark Block, MD; and Alice M. Boylan, MD

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Immunotherapy

Intrapleural instillation of cytokines to stimulate an immune response to the tumor has been tried at some centers. Instillation of these agents must be continuous because the half life is so short. This requires placement of an intrapleural catheter. A study of intrapleural interleukin-2 by Goey et al²⁵ found a partial response in four of 21 patients and an overall survival of 16 months. Intrapleural interferon-gamma has also been studied. Boutin et al²⁶ reported a partial response rate of 19%, but most of those patients had stage IA disease.

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