Apatinib for salvage treatment of advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma: A case report

RATIONALE: Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is rare cancer and has a poor prognosis with resistance to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Until now there is no standard third-line treatment for patients who have failed second-line therapy. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 58-year-old non-smoking female peasant of ethnic Han was admitted to the oncology department of the 363 Hospital with a primary complaint of chest tightness and breathlessness from 3 months ago. DIAGNOSES: Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) examination showed “dirty” pleural and parietal pleural involvement as well as mediastinal and pulmonary hilar lymph node enlargement. Finally, cancer cells were seen after repeated pleural effusion cell examination. Immunohistochemistry confirmed epithelioid of pleural mesothelioma. INTERVENTIONS: Apatinib as a third-line treatment after failure from pemetrexed/cisplatin (PC) as the first-line chemotherapy and gemcitabine/cisplatin (GP) as the second-line chemotherapy. At first, 250 mg/day was given and 1 week later, the dose was increased to 500 mg/day. OUTCOMES: A 5-month progression-free survival was achieved and toxicity included severe hand-foot syndrome, mild proteinuria, and hypertension. LESSONS: Apatinib may be a potential therapeutic drug for MPM, particularly as a third-line treatment in cases resistant to chemotherapeutic options.