Researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center say the standard treatment for pleural mesothelioma is currently surgery to remove the patient's lung -- a potentially debilitating consequence. "Current surgical and chemotherapy treatments of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma are unsatisfactory, and have not been shown to significantly prolong survival," Dr. Robert Taub, the study's principal investigator.

The new study, however, focuses on a combination of chemotherapy and radiation targeted directly at the lung's lining. Researchers anticipate that the radiation therapy will kill the cancer cells on the surface of the lung while sparing other parts of the lung and surrounding vital tissues.

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