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Pleural mesothelioma (PM) is an aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis. Although histology and pathologic stage are important prognostic factors, better prognostic biomarkers are needed. The ribosomal protein S6 is a downstream target of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway involved in protein synthesis and cell proliferation. In previous studies, low phosphorylated S6 (pS6) immunoreactivity was significantly correlated with longer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in PM patients. We aimed to correlate pS6 expression to clinical data in a large multi-centre PM cohort as part of the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) Mesoscape project. Tissue Micro Arrays (TMAs) of PM were constructed and expression of pS6 was evaluated by a semi-quantitatively aggregate H-score. Expression results were correlated to patient characteristics as well as OS/PFS. pS6 IHC results of 364 patients from 9 centres, diagnosed between 1999 and 2017 were available. The primary histology of included tumours was epithelioid (70.3%), followed by biphasic (24.2%) and sarcomatoid (5.5%). TMAs included both treatment-naïve and tumour tissue taken after induction chemotherapy. High pS6 expression (181 patients with H-score>1.41) was significantly associated with less complete resection. In the overall cohort, OS/PFS were not significantly different between pS6-low and pS6-high patients. In a subgroup analysis non-epithelioid (biphasic and sarcomatoid) patients with high pS6 expression showed a significantly shorter OS (p

OBJECTIVES Patient allocation to multimodality treatment in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to validate our previously established Multimodality Prognostic Score (MMPS) (tumour volume before chemotherapy, histological subtype, C-reactive protein before chemotherapy and tumour progression after chemotherapy) and to extend the score with additional blood parameters for better patient outcome. METHODS Patients with histologically proven malignant pleural mesothelioma and curative intended therapy with clinical stage T1–T3 N0–N2 M0 were eligible. The existing MMPS was validated and further additional blood markers (erythrocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, albumin, gamma-glutamyl transferase and alkaline phosphatase) were evaluated for potential incorporation. RESULTS For the validation of the existing MMPS, as the first part of this analysis, 117 patients treated as of September 2011 were included. A total of 88 patients were treated with macroscopic complete resection, whereas 29 patients were treated with palliative or no surgery. Patients treated with macroscopic complete resection and a high MMPS showed statistically significant lower overall survival. In the second part, the extension of the MMPS with additional blood parameters was analysed. Albumin, the only parameter showing evidence for having influence on overall survival, was further added to the extended MMPS. When comparing the performance measures Area under the curve (AUC) and Brier score, the extended score performed better (higher AUC, lower Brier score) than the original MMPS. CONCLUSIONS The extended score with albumin showed improved performance in comparison to the original score. The extended MMPS also may help allocating patients to surgery.

Purpose Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is the treatment of choice for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). In recent decades, refined surgical PEA technique using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has achieved significant reduction in mortality. Hemodilution generated by crystalloid priming solution in heart surgery causes a number of disadvantages, and no standard for PEA is described. We aim to assess the outcome of CTEPH patients after protocol change for CPB with adding 5% albumin to priming solution during PEA. Methods Since changing the CPB protocol in 2018, 28 CTEPH patients were retrospectively compared to a historical control by 1:1 propensity score matching gender, age, PVR (pulmonary vascular resistance) before PEA surgery. The resulting two cohort groups were analysed for intraoperative fluid balance, vasoactive inotropic score (VIS), operative time and their influence on outcome. Regression models of hospitalization, ICU (intensive care unit) and intubation time considered the total blood volume balance as mediator of the effect of the new protocol. Results Lower CPB-balance (p Conclusion Priming protocol for CPB with addition of 5% albumin had a beneficial effect on the CPB balance and improved postoperative outcome after PEA for CTEPH patients.