Abstract

Peritoneal mesothelioma is one of the peritoneal surface malignancies where long-term survival is a reality after cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Tumor angiogenesis has been shown to be of prognostic significance on survival in mesothelioma. We investigated the impact of survival of patients with peritoneal mesothelioma following CRS and HIPEC to determine the impact of tumor angiogenesis on survival after this radical surgical treatment. Paraffin sections of 23 patients who were treated with CRS and HIPEC were retrieved for immunohistochemical analysis. The immunostaining was performed using monoclonal mouse anti-human antibodies (VEGF-C and CD31) on an autostainer (Autostainer Plus; Dako, Inc.). The intensity of the stains were quantified using the Image-Pro Plus (IPP) 4.5 (Media Cybernetics, Silver Spring, MD). VEGF expression and microvessel density (MVD) using CD31 staining were studied. The median survival was 94 months with a 3-year survival rate of 51%. There was no impact on patient's age, sex, peritoneal cancer index, tumor histopathology and survival outcomes between patients with low or high MVD and VEGF expression. After CRS and HIPEC, our results demonstrate that the prognostic significance of tumor angiogenesis is negated, highlighting the potential importance of other co-contributory mechanisms in mesotheliomagenesis and undergoing radial treatment.