Lucia M. Calthorpe, MPhil
Medical Student
University of California San Francisco
Berkeley, California, United States
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
From 2000-2018, 1,689 incident cases of MPM were identified. The majority of patients were male (55.4%), older than 50 years (80.0%), and white (75.2%). Epithelioid was the most frequently identified histology (85.0%), followed by biphasic (8.3%), and sarcomatoid (7.2%). The age-adjusted incidence of MPM remained stable over time, with an average annual incidence of 1.08 cases/million. Incidence among females increased by 88.6% over the study period with an APC of 1.2 (95%CI: 0.0, 2.6, p=0.06), and incidence in males increased by 10.5% with an APC of -0.8 (95%CI: -2.2, 0.5). The incidence of epithelioid histology increased by 240% with an APC of 2.5 (95%CI: 0.6, 4.4). Overall median age-standardized survival was 11.6 months. Median age-standardized survival was 16.6 months for those with epithelioid histology, but 2.0 months for those with sarcomatoid histology. From 2000-18, the percent of cases treated with cancer-directed surgery increased from 27% to 43%. In multivariable models, diagnosis in later years and receipt of cancer-directed surgery were associated with improved survival (2015-18 HR: 0.53; 95%CI: 0.42, 0.66, Figure 1).
Conclusions:
Although the overall incidence of MPM has remained stable from 2000-18, there has been a significant increase in the incidence of epithelioid histology. Survival has improved over time, concurrent with an increase in cancer-directed surgery. Future studies are warranted to investigate factors driving improved survival in MPM.