Role of induction and adjuvant systemic treatment in mesothelioma: narrative review

Abstract

Pleural mesothelioma is an uncommon malignancy that is rarely amenable to definitive resection. Local and regional recurrence are common and the median overall survival is approximately 1 year (1). Therefore, multimodality therapy employing systemic therapies before or after resection, usually with radiotherapy as well, has been evaluated in attempts to improve outcome. The purpose of this review is to discuss issues in induction and adjuvant therapy including the drugs, issues in trial design and evaluation, the results of recent studies as well as the trials that are currently in progress. The following article is presented in accordance with the Narrative Review reporting checklist (available at