A pseudo case of atypical pseudo-Meigs syndrome

Our plain-English summary of A pseudo case of atypical pseudo-Meigs syndrome, by D.A. Thaker, P.J. Stride, A. Dettrick (Indian Journal of Cancer, 2011).

The study

• Authors: D.A. Thaker, P.J. Stride, A. Dettrick
• Journal: Indian Journal of Cancer
• Published: 2011;48(3):364-6
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor describing one patient, written by authors from Redcliffe Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital in Queensland, Australia. A 54-year-old woman came to hospital with fluid around the right lung (a right-sided pleural effusion). She had been admitted a year earlier with similar complaints, and the fluid was then thought to come from a resolving infection. Scans showed a lesion near the left ovary compatible with a dermoid. The fluid was drained and both ovaries were removed. They contained a benign serous cystadenoma (right) and a benign cystic teratoma (left). The authors first suspected a rare syndrome linking ovarian tumors with pleural effusions, but a larger right effusion returned 2 months after surgery. A pleural biopsy showed diffuse malignancy of the pleura, and tissue staining was consistent with malignant mesothelioma. Repeat questioning found that her husband had been exposed to asbestos at work and that she had washed his clothes for many years. The article did not name a fiber type. The authors concluded that an uncommon presentation of a common disease is more likely than a common presentation of a very rare disease.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report (letter to the editor describing one patient)
• Who was studied: one 54-year-old woman with a right-sided pleural effusion; the authors were at hospitals in Queensland, Australia; no dates given
• Exposure: household exposure: her husband had work-based asbestos exposure and she washed his clothes for many years; fiber type, products and job not stated
• Main results:
  • The patient had been admitted 1 year earlier with similar complaints; the fluid was then thought to be due to a resolving infection
  • Imaging showed a lesion arising from the left adnexa with a 6 cm focus of central calcification compatible with a dermoid
  • After bilateral oophorectomy, histopathology found a right-sided benign serous cystadenoma and a left-sided benign cystic teratoma
  • An even larger right pleural effusion recurred 2 months after surgery, which excluded Meigs syndrome under Meigs' original definition
  • Thoracoscopic-assisted pleural biopsy showed diffuse mesothelial malignancy of the pleura with skip areas of reactive mesothelium
  • Immunohistochemistry of the tumor cells was consistent with malignant mesothelioma (strong calretinin reaction shown in a figure)
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the case confirmed the adage that an uncommon presentation of a common disease is more likely than a common presentation of a very rare disease. They also stated that an asymptomatic ovarian tumor should not delay investigation of a recurrent pleural effusion.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

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