A Case of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma with Prolonged Survival Achieved by Multiple Sessions of Palliative Radiotherapy

Abstract

A 64-year-old man with a history of asbestos exposure was diagnosed with stage IIIB epithelioid malignant pleural mesothelioma. After chemotherapy was introduced, the size of the tumors decreased initially but subsequently increased. A total of 13 sessions of palliative radiotherapy were conducted for multiple ectopic pleural masses and celiac lymph node metastases over five years and 11 months. The patient received 8 courses of nivolumab, which became available after he completed radiotherapy. Nevertheless, he had progressive disease and died seven years and 11 months after the initial examination. We report this instructive case of long-term survival achieved by repeated palliative radiotherapy.