Benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma, by J.A. Schneider, E.J. Zelnick (Journal of Clinical Ultrasound, 1985).

The study

• Authors: J.A. Schneider, E.J. Zelnick
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Ultrasound
• Published: 1985;13(3):190-2
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 20 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Benign cystic mesothelial tumors of the peritoneum are rare entities. The majority of peritoneal mesotheliomas are clinically and pathologically malignant tumors, many of which are associated with prior exposure to asbestos. The diagnosis of a cystic peritoneal lesion was made by sonography and computed tomography in a middle-aged woman. The diagnosis of benign cystic mesothelioma was made histologically. This is the first demonstration of this entity by ultrasound and computed tomography prior to surgery.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This article was a case report about one woman with a rare benign form of mesothelioma of the peritoneum, the lining of the abdomen. The 43-year-old woman had vague low abdominal pain for 3 months, and her physical and gynecological examinations were normal. A barium enema suggested a pelvic mass. Ultrasound showed a mass of many cysts filling the pelvis and lower abdomen. Computed tomography (CT) showed a similar thin-walled cystic lesion, with normal-appearing ovaries. Before surgery, the diagnosis was thought to be either lymphangiomatosis or an unusual form of pseudomyxoma peritonei. At surgery, the mass arose from the peritoneal surface. It was removed in one piece along with the omentum, uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes. Tissue examination showed multicystic benign peritoneal mesothelioma. The report did not say whether this woman had any asbestos exposure. Its background noted that most peritoneal mesotheliomas are malignant and many are associated with asbestos. The authors stated this was the first demonstration of this condition by ultrasound and CT before surgery.

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 43-year-old woman who had given birth more than once and had vague low abdominal pain. The article does not state the date or place of treatment beyond the authors' affiliations in Miami and Hollywood, Florida.
• Exposure: The article does not report any asbestos exposure, fiber type, or occupation for this patient. Asbestos is mentioned only as background: the article says many malignant peritoneal mesotheliomas are associated with prior asbestos exposure.
• Main results:
  • In the patient, physical and gynecological examinations found no abdominal or pelvic mass.
  • In the patient, pelvic ultrasound showed a multiseptate cystic mass occupying the entire pelvis and lower abdomen, in front of and behind the uterus.
  • In the patient, CT showed a thin-walled multiloculated cystic lesion in the lower abdomen and entire pelvis, with water-density fluid in the cysts.
  • Before surgery, the imaging diagnosis was a cystic peritoneal lesion, either lymphangiomatosis or an unusual presentation of pseudomyxoma peritonei.
  • At surgery, the cystic mass arose from the peritoneal surface and encompassed the omentum. It was removed en bloc with omentectomy, hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes).
  • Tissue examination showed cysts lined by typical mesothelial cells, characteristic of multicystic benign peritoneal mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that this was the first demonstration of benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma by ultrasound and CT before surgery. They wrote that a thin-walled, multicystic abnormality occupying most of the pelvis on ultrasound should alert the physician to multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Peritoneum, Mesothelioma, Ultrasound.

Related studies

• Peritoneal, benign, cystic mesothelioma with free-floating cysts, re-examined by new methods. A case report — O.H. Iversen, T. Hovig, et al. (1988)
• Giant benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma: US, CT, and MRI findings — A. Ozgen, D. Akata, et al. (1998)
• Benign multicystic mesothelioma and peritoneal inclusion cysts: are they the same clinical and histopathological entities? A systematic review to find an evidence-based management — A.M.C. Rapisarda, A. Cianci, et al. (2018)
• Intra-abdominal benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma — I. Jouvin, A. Dohan, et al. (2014)
• Collagenous Spherulosis in Well-Differentiated Papillary Mesothelioma in a Female With Multilocular Peritoneal Inclusion Cysts — B. AbdullGaffar, L.G. Raman (2019)
• Benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma incorrectly diagnosed as an ovarian borderline mucinous tumor of intestinal type at transvaginal preoperative ultrasound evaluation — A.C. Testa, G.F. Zannoni, et al. (2011)

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