Malignant mesothelioma is a rare malignancy with fewer than 2,500 cases a year in the U.S. Mayo Clinic has one of the largest mesothelioma practices in the country, seeing between 100 and 150 people a year with newly diagnosed mesothelioma.
Mayo Clinic mesothelioma experts provide cutting-edge care to people with the two main types of mesothelioma — pleural and peritoneal. A dedicated multidisciplinary team evaluates all people with mesothelioma seeking care at Mayo Clinic and discusses each one at a Tumor Board made up experts from a wide variety of disciplines, including:
- Medical oncologists
- Radiation oncologists
- Pulmonologists
- Thoracic surgeons
- Radiologists
- Pathologists
- Palliative care physicians
Approximately 15% of all people with pleural mesothelioma are candidates for care plans that use many different therapies (multimodality), such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. These multimodality therapies include novel approaches such as the surgery for mesothelioma after radiation therapy (SMART) protocol or pleurectomy decortication followed by intensity-modified radiation therapy, both in combination with chemotherapy.
Mayo Clinic also offers people with mesothelioma access to multiple clinical trials evaluating new therapies.
For people who are not candidates for multimodality therapy, Mayo Clinic offers standard-of-care systemic therapy. Mayo Clinic offers to these people, as well, the opportunity to participate in a variety of clinical trials, including immunotherapy, viral therapy, targeted therapies and others.
For people with peritoneal mesothelioma, Mayo Clinic also provides surgical resection, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, systemic therapy and access to clinical trials.
Mayo Clinic has an active multidisciplinary program for symptom management and palliative care to give people with mesothelioma the best quality of life possible.