Table 1 Eligibility criteria of this study

Eligibility Criteria

Clinical stage I, II or III (M0; N0-2; T1-3) pleural mesothelioma

Performance status 0 to 1on the ECOG^a performance status schedule

No previous surgical resection of mesothelioma

No previous radiation therapy

Estimated life expectancy of at least 12 weeks

Adequate cardiac function

Must be judged suitable to the therapy by medical oncologist and thoracic surgeon.

Pulmonary function tests: FEV1^b >0.8, DLCO^c >35% of predicted postoperative FEV1 (ppoFEV1)

ABG^d Predicted postoperative pCO2 <50.

Adequate bone marrow reserve:

 · absolute neutrophil (segmented and bands) count (ANC) ≥1.5 × 10⁹/L,

 · Platelets ≥100 × 10⁹/L, and hemoglobin ≥9 g/dL.

Hepatic: bilirubin ≤1.5 times the upper limit of normal (× ULN), alkaline phosphatase (AP), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) ≤3.0 × ULN.

Female patients of child-bearing potential must test negative for pregnancy at the time of enrollment based on a serum pregnancy test. Male and female patients must agree to use a reliable method of birth control during and for 3 months following the last dose of study drug.

Geographical condition must not hamper the compliance with the study protocol and follow-up schedule.