Comparison of outcomes following a cytological or histological diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma
Menée à partir des données d'un registre australien portant sur 2 024 patients atteints d'un mésothéliome malin diagnostiqué dans les 42 dernières années (âge médian : 68,6 ans ; 86,2 % d'hommes), cette étude évalue le taux de différents sous-types de la maladie ainsi que la survie en fonction de la méthode utilisée au diagnostic (analyse cytologique en phase liquide ou analyse histologique)
Background : Survival with the epithelioid subtype of malignant mesothelioma (MM) is longer than the biphasic or sarcomatoid subtypes. There is concern that cytology-diagnosed epithelioid MM may underdiagnose the biphasic subtype. This study examines survival differences between patients with epithelioid MM diagnosed by cytology only and other subtypes diagnosed by histology.
Methods : Demographics, diagnosis method, MM subtype and survival were extracted from the Western Australia (WA) Mesothelioma Registry, which records details of all MM cases occurring in WA.
Results : A total of 2024 MM cases were identified over 42 years. One thousand seven hundred forty-four (86.2%) were male, median (IQR) age was 68.6 (60.4–77.0) years. A total of 1212 (59.9%) cases were identified as epithelioid subtype of which 499 (41.2%) were diagnosed using fluid cytology only. Those with a cytology-only diagnosis were older than the histology group (median 70.2 vs 67.6 years, P<0.001), but median survival was similar (cytology 10.6 (5.5–19.2) vs histology 11.1 (4.8–19.8) months, P=0.727) and Cox regression modelling adjusting for age, sex, site and time since first exposure showed no difference in survival between the different diagnostic approaches.
Conclusions : Survival of cytologically and histologically diagnosed epithelioid MM cases does not differ. A diagnostic tap should be considered adequate to diagnose epithelioid MM without need for further invasive testing.
British Journal of Cancer , résumé, 2016