Pemetrexed and carboplatin in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM)

18114 Background. MPM is a poor prognosis disease, whose clinical negative outcome is due both to it’s aggressiveness and to the lack of active drugs for clinical practice. To assess activity and safety of pemetrexed-carboplatin combination in the treatment of MPM, an open trial has been recently concluded in our departments. Methods. All the consecutive patients with proven diagnosis of MPM admitted to our departments between 2003 and 2005 were considered eligible and enrolled into the trial. All the patients were treated with pemetrexed 500mg/m2 and carboplatin AUC 5mg/ml/minute every 21 days until progression of disease or unacceptable toxicity. All the patients were treated with steroid prophylaxis, folinic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation. Results. 26 patients (18 chemotherapy-naive) were considered eligible and enrolled into the trial. 21 patients were male and 5 female; median age of the patients was 67 years (range 49–77). 22 patients were affected by locally advanced or extensive disease and the other 4 ones by localized disease. All the patients were valuable for response, toxicity and survival. Overall response rate was 19,3%, with 5 partial responses and no complete regression of the disease. A stable disease was observed in 7 patients (26.9%), with an overall disease control rate of 46.2%. 201 complete courses of chemotherapy was performed with a median number of 6 courses/patients. Toxicity was mild with grade 3/4 WHO neutropenia in 4 patients (15.3%), grade 3 anemia and thrombocytopenia in 2 patients (7.6%). No grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicity was observed along all the conduction of the trial. Median survival was 9,3 months, assessed with the Kaplan Meyer non-parametric test. Conclusions. Pemetrexed and carboplatin seem to represent an active and well tolerated schedule against MPM, confirming their priority role in the treatment of the disease; nevertheless, further trials are probably needed to improve the outcome of chemotherapy in this rare poor-prognosis disease. Supported by IOR No significant financial relationships to disclose.