Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum: a rare case and review of the literature

Our plain-English summary of Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum: a rare case and review of the literature, by S. Khuri, H. Gilshtein, W. Abboud, et al (Case Reports in Oncology, 2012).

The study

• Authors: S. Khuri, H. Gilshtein, W. Abboud, A. Assalia, Y. Kluger
• Journal: Case Reports in Oncology
• Published: 2012;5(3):667-70
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 14 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

A 19-year-old male presented with right lower quadrant pain. Imaging studies revealed a cystic peritoneal mass. At surgery, a large peritoneal mass was excised. The pathology report revealed a benign cystic mesothelioma, and a right hemicolectomy with cytoreductive surgery was completed.

In plain English

This article is a case report from Rambam Health Care Center in Haifa, Israel, about one patient with benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum, the lining of the abdomen. A 19-year-old man came to the emergency department with two days of right lower abdominal pain and diarrhea, and appendicitis was suspected. Ultrasound showed a multicystic mass of 10 × 3.4 × 1.6 cm in the right lower abdomen, and CT showed a normal appendix. At laparoscopy, surgeons found a grape-shaped lesion on a long stalk arising from the wall of the cecum (the start of the large bowel). It was twisted and partly dead. They also found many free-floating cysts and cysts on the pelvic wall, the peritoneal lining and around the liver. Pathology identified benign cystic mesothelioma. Six weeks later he had cytoreductive surgery that removed all cystic lesions and required removal of the right colon, and he recovered uneventfully. The article does not mention asbestos or any exposure history. The authors concluded that this is a very rare tumor and that the mainstay of treatment is surgical removal, with cytoreductive surgery and peritonectomy.

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 (single patient), with a brief discussion of earlier published reports
• Who was studied: one 19-year-old male patient treated at Rambam Health Care Center, Haifa, Israel; dates of treatment not given
• Exposure: The article does not mention asbestos or any other exposure. It reports only that the patient's past medical history was unremarkable.
• Main results:
  • Abdominal ultrasound showed a multicystic mass of 10 × 3.4 × 1.6 cm in the right iliac fossa (right lower abdomen)
  • At diagnostic laparoscopy the lesion was twisted on a long stalk arising from the cecal wall, and the twist had caused partial necrosis of the lesion
  • Multiple free cystic lesions of various sizes were floating in the peritoneal cavity
  • The pathology report identified benign cystic mesothelioma
  • The patient was readmitted after 6 weeks and underwent cytoreductive surgery, which removed all cystic lesions
  • The surgery required a right hemicolectomy (removal of the right colon) because of the many cystic lesions on the ascending colon wall
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma is a very rare tumor with a high recurrence rate and low malignant transformation rates, and that the mainstay of treatment is surgical eradication, with cytoreductive surgery and peritonectomy

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Peritoneum, Pathology Report, Cytoreductive Surgery.

Related studies

• Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum: a case report and literature review — H. Elbouhaddouti, A. Bouassria, et al. (2013)
• Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum in a child-case report and review of the literature — V.C. Shakya, C.S. Agrawal, et al. (2011)
• Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum in a male child — Z. Stojsic, R. Jankovic, et al. (2012)
• Benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum--a case report — Y.L. Suh, W.J. Choi (1989)
• Incidental benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum: A case report — M.M. Ianieri, D.I. Buca, et al. (2016)
• Benign Cystic Mesothelioma of the Peritoneum Arising at the Greater Omentum in a 14-Year-Old Boy — Y. Hirayama, N. Higashidate, et al. (2025)

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