Clinical practice
Surgery and hot chemotherapy for a mesothelioma patient who travelled 729 km
A 60-year-old patient with malignant mesothelioma who came from Kütahya to Samsun was treated with surgery followed by hot chemotherapy in the same session and discharged after 7 days.
A 60-year-old woman diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma — an aggressive cancer arising from the pleura — travelled 729 km from Tavşanlı, Kütahya, to be treated in Samsun. She underwent surgery at Medicana International Samsun Hospital, followed in the same session by hot chemotherapy, and was discharged 7 days later.
Thoracic surgeon Prof. Dr. Burçin Çelik explained that the patient had previously been evaluated at several hospitals in Ankara and had received preoperative chemotherapy. After her tests were reviewed by the tumour board, surgery followed by hot chemotherapy was planned. At the first follow-up visit, blood tests and imaging were normal.
Who is hot chemotherapy for?
In hot chemotherapy, what matters most is the stage and the pathological type of the disease. We recommend it particularly for epithelioid malignant mesothelioma, because we do not see much benefit in the other pathological types.
Prof. Çelik stressed that during recovery patients should be protected from infections and home visits, pay attention to nutrition and follow the recommended treatment. Malignant mesothelioma is far from rare in Türkiye and is quite common in some regions, while hot chemotherapy is offered at only a limited number of centres.
This report is based on the following sources: Memleket.
