Mesothelioma (eBook)

This book offers an updated review of malignant mesothelioma, including the latest advances in our understanding of its genetic control and molecular biology, as well as pre-clinical and clinical research. It also presents state-of-the-art diagnostic approaches and therapeutic options, and an open discussion on the future prospects for patient management.

Malignant mesothelioma is an enormous global health problem related to asbestos exposure. Despite the best efforts of scientists and oncologists, the prognosis for those affected remains poor. Due to anatomical characteristics and non-specific symptoms, the diagnosis of mesothelioma at an early stage is often difficult, while surgery and radiotherapy are only of limited use, even if some multimodality approaches seem promising. In turn, medical treatments are sometimes successful in tumor control, but have little impact on overall survival. However, advances in our understanding of the disease's biology, together with the availability of new drugs and combinations, make mesothelioma an essential and highly topical field for pre-clinical and clinical studies.

This book is subdivided into four parts: epidemiology and preclinical data, diagnosis, therapy, and extrathoracic mesothelioma. It highlights the progress made in a variety of areas - e.g. in vitro and in vivo experimental models, genetics, environment, biomarkers, targeting agents, immunotherapy, metabolic imaging and ongoing clinical trials - and describes the standard clinical management of mesothelioma patients, including those with extra-thoracic localizations. Given its scope, the book offers an invaluable tool for researchers, oncologists and clinicians alike.

Giovanni Luca Ceresoli specialized in Radiation and Medical Oncology at the University of Milan. Since 2009 he has been head of the Thoracic and Urologic Oncology Unit at Humanitas Gavazzeni Clinic in Bergamo. His clinical and research work is mainly in the field of thoracic and genito-urinary cancers, particularly malignant pleural mesothelioma. Since 2008 he has been part of the core faculty of the European School of Oncology for thoracic and urologic cancers. He is a permanent reviewer for several major oncologic journals, and author of more than 100 publications in international indexed journals and of several Springer books.

Emilio Bombardieri specialized in Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of Milan. In 1972 he joined the Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, where he worked as a nuclear medicine physician in the area of oncology, diagnosis and therapy and later became director of the Nuclear Medicine Division and director of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy. In 2013 he was appointed scientific director of the Nuclear Medicine Division at Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital and coordinator of the Scientific Committee. Since 1982 he has been a professor of Physiology and Endocrinology at the Catholic University, ISEF, Milan. He was president of the Italian Association of Nuclear Medicine (AIMN), chaired the EANM (European Association of Nuclear Medicine) Oncology Committee and was nominated president of the EANM Congress 2012 in Milan. He has published more than 400 papers in national and international journals as well as scientific textbooks in the area of diagnostic imaging and oncology.

Maurizio D'Incalci specialized in Pharmacology (1979) and Oncology (1981)at the University of Milan. He has been chief of the Cancer Chemotherapy Laboratory since 1986 and of the Oncology Department at the Mario Negri Institute, Milan since 1996. His research focuses on the pharmacology of anticancer compounds, and he has contributed to the identification and characterisation of the mechanism of action and the preclinical and clinical development of several drugs that are now used in the clinical therapy of tumors. He has authored more than 550 scientific publications and several book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of several international scientific journals, and is a member of the scientific committee of the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), and several other foundations and the ethics committees of Italian and international scientific institutes.