Composite multicystic mesothelioma and adenomatoid tumour of the uterus: different morphological manifestations of the same process?

Our plain-English summary of Composite multicystic mesothelioma and adenomatoid tumour of the uterus: different morphological manifestations of the same process?, by J.K. Chan, M.H. Fong (Histopathology, 1996).

The study

• Authors: J.K. Chan, M.H. Fong
• Journal: Histopathology
• Published: 1996;29(4):375-7
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 31 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This case report described one 45-year-old woman with abdominal swelling and recent heavy menstrual bleeding. Her uterus was removed, along with both fallopian tubes and ovaries. Besides fibroids, the uterus held a 17 mm solid nodule in its wall at the top (fundus). The nodule was joined to a 25 mm cluster of small fluid-filled cysts on the outer surface. Under the microscope, the nodule inside the muscle wall was a typical adenomatoid tumour. The surface cysts had the pattern of multicystic mesothelioma, and the two patterns merged where they met. Stains on the cyst fluid and lining cells fit a lesion of mesothelial cells. The article describes multicystic mesothelioma as a benign but frequently recurrent lesion of the female pelvic peritoneum. The authors believed the adenomatoid tumour was the primary process, and that the surface cysts probably formed as it extended onto the uterine surface. They suggested that the close relationship between the two lesions should lead to reconsidering whether both are tumours or both are reactive processes. The article does not mention asbestos or any other exposure.

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, pathology description)
• Who was studied: one 45-year-old nulliparous, previously healthy woman, reported by pathologists at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and St Paul's Hospital, Hong Kong; dates of treatment not given
• Main results:
  • The patient had abdominal distension for a few months and recent onset of menorrhagia. The uterus was about 18 weeks gravid size, with multiple fibroids on ultrasound. Total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed.
  • In the fundus there was a discrete 17 mm subserosal solid nodule, continuous with a papillary tuft of small cysts on the serosal surface.
  • The papillary tuft measured 25 mm across and 18 mm in height.
  • The lesion within the uterine muscle wall was a typical adenomatoid tumour.
  • The serosal tuft consisted of large cystic spaces measuring 1 to 4 mm.
  • At the junction between the two parts there were cysts of variable size and shape mixed with single vacuolated cells.
  • The material in the cysts was PAS-negative and alcian blue-positive (hyaluronidase sensitive), which the authors called typical of mesothelial lesions. The lining cells stained strongly for cytokeratin.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors believed the adenomatoid tumour was the primary process and that the serosal multicystic component probably resulted from its extension onto the serosal surface. They suggested that the close relationship between multicystic mesothelioma and adenomatoid tumour should lead to reconsidering whether both are neoplasms or both are reactive processes.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Multicystic Mesothelioma (MCM), Adenomatoid Tumor.

Related studies

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• Adenomatoid tumour of the uterus — N. Marcussen, A. Donna (1988)
• TRAF7 mutations and immunohistochemical study of uterine adenomatoid tumor compared with malignant mesothelioma — H. Itami, T. Fujii, et al. (2021)
• Uterine adenomatoid tumors confirmed by immunohistochemical staining — M. Irikoma, K. Takahashi, et al. (2001)
• Immunohistochemical evidence of the mesothelial histogenesis of a uterine adenomatoid tumor — Y. Satoh, M. Hiraguchi, et al. (1998)
• Microcystic variant of localized malignant mesothelioma accompanying an adenomatoid tumor-like lesion — H. Umezu, K. Kuwata, et al. (2002)

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