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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;125:442-443
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Letters to the Editor

Missing data from mesothelioma study

Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Rancho Palos Verdes, Director of Pulmonary Function Laboratory, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Harbor City, CA 90710

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

The phase II trial of surgery and radiation of malignant mesothelioma by Rusch and colleagues ¹ is an important addition to the literature, documenting contemporary efforts to control and eventually cure this so far incurable malignant process. The 8% mortality after extrapleural pneumonectomy reflects the tremendous strides in surgical technics effected in recent decades. The rigorous staging confirms a major attempt to bring better science to this capricious disease.

Nevertheless, Rusch and colleagues ¹ have excluded a host of important information from their publication. I hope that they will be able to strengthen the report by rectifying some of these omissions:

1. To understand the real world from which their patients were selected, we need to know how many patients were refused entry into their study.
   
2. The . . . [Full Text of this Article]