Acute abdomen in an asbestos factory worker

Our plain-English summary of Acute abdomen in an asbestos factory worker, by S. Narasimhan, D. Brian, H. Khwaja (Canadian Journal of Surgery. Journal Canadien de Chirurgie, 2008).

The study

• Authors: S. Narasimhan, D. Brian, H. Khwaja
• Journal: Canadian Journal of Surgery. Journal Canadien de Chirurgie
• Published: 2008;51(4):E75-6
• Type of article: Case report
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text

In plain English

This article is a case report from the Department of Surgery at Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, UK. It describes one patient. A 79-year-old man was referred with constipation, worsening abdominal pain and weight loss. He had had a month of severe generalized abdominal pain, abdominal swelling and two episodes of vomiting, and he had lost 13 kg over a year. He had worked for 30 years at an asbestos factory and had smoked for 50 pack-years. The article does not name the type of asbestos. A chest X-ray suggested pulmonary fibrosis. A CT scan showed extensive thickening of the peritoneum, the lining of the abdomen, and a liver lesion consistent with spread of cancer. A biopsy of the peritoneum was taken. On day 3 he developed cardiac failure, and palliative care was started. He died of multiorgan failure two weeks after admission. Examination of the tissue supported a diagnosis of sarcomatoid mesothelioma of the peritoneum. The authors called this presentation unusual. They concluded that the diagnosis should be considered early. A single case report gives no rates.

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
• Who was studied: One 79-year-old man treated at the Department of Surgery, Hillingdon Hospital, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK, referred with constipation, worsening abdominal pain and weight loss
• Exposure: 30 years of work at an asbestos factory (fiber type not stated). He was also a smoker with a 50 pack-year history.
• Main results:
  • The patient had a 13-kg weight loss over 1 year.
  • His chest radiograph showed increased lung markings in both lower zones, suggestive of pulmonary fibrosis.
  • CT showed extensive peritoneal thickening and enhancement, particularly in the right upper quadrant, with omental thickening.
  • A lesion in the right lobe of the liver was consistent with a metastatic deposit.
  • The patient suffered cardiac failure on day 3 of admission.
  • The patient died of multiorgan failure two weeks after admission.
  • Histology and immunostaining of the peritoneal tissue supported a diagnosis of sarcomatoid mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that malignant peritoneal mesothelioma should be considered at an early stage and the necessary investigations performed. They described this case's presentation, an acute abdomen, as unusual.

Topics

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

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