English Channel swimming and pleural cancer

On the occasion of Véronique Fresnel's sporting achievement, Prof. Arnaud Scherpereel described the various progress made in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Véronique Fresnel, president of the TransManche challenge, crossed the English Channel ("La Manche" in French) on the 20th of September 2022. In addition to the sporting achievement, the goal is to raise funds for research against diseases related to exposure to asbestos, including pleural cancer (malignant pleural mesothelioma). On this occasion, Prof. Arnaud Scherpereel was invited to present this pathology and expose the various lines of research.

The MesoPDT project of the OncoThAI laboratory in collaboration with the department of Pneumology and Thoracic Oncology and the department of Thoracic Surgery of Lille University Hospital, aims to develop intrapleural photodynamic therapy for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. A first phase I clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02662504) has already assessed the non-toxicity of the surgical procedure.