Deciduoid pleural mesothelioma affecting a young female without prior asbestos exposure

Our plain-English summary of Deciduoid pleural mesothelioma affecting a young female without prior asbestos exposure, by K. Gloeckner-Hofmann, X.Z. Zhu, H. Bartels, et al (Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases, 2000).

The study

• Authors: K. Gloeckner-Hofmann, X.Z. Zhu, H. Bartels, A.C. Feller, H. Merz
• Journal: Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases
• Published: 2000;67(4):456-8
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 14 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Pleural mesothelioma is commonly associated to asbestos exposure. A 40-year-old woman is described who presented with shortness of breath. She had a smoking history but no history of asbestos exposure. Chest radiography and computed tomography showed a large tumour on the right lower lung. An open pleural biopsy was performed. A metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pleura was primarily diagnosed. The tumour progressed and after surgical excision an accurate histological and immunohistochemical examination was performed. It revealed a pleural mesothelioma with a deciduoid differentiation that has not been described before.

Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

In plain English

This case report described one 40-year-old woman who was admitted to hospital with shortness of breath. The authors were from institutions in Lübeck, Germany. She had smoked 12 cigarettes a day for 15 years, and the report stated she had no history of exposure to asbestos. A CT scan showed a 7 cm tumour in the chest close to the heart. A biopsy of the pleura (the lining around the lungs) was first diagnosed as adenocarcinoma that had spread there from elsewhere. However, no original tumour was found in the lung, breast or other organs. The tumour later grew and pressed on part of the heart, and its main part was removed about half a year later. Examination of that tissue showed a malignant pleural mesothelioma with 'deciduoid' features. The tumour stained positive for calretinin, which the authors described as a marker suggested to be specific for mesothelial cells. It did not stain for beta-HCG or for progesterone or oestrogen receptors. The patient died shortly afterwards. The authors concluded this was the first case of deciduoid pleural mesothelioma. They said it showed how hard it can be to tell mesothelioma apart from adenocarcinoma that has spread to the pleura. They also found no evidence linking the tumour to the body's own hormones.

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)
• Who was studied: One 40-year-old woman admitted to hospital with shortness of breath (dyspnoea); authors from the Medical University of Lübeck and Städtisches Krankenhaus Süd, Lübeck, Germany
• Exposure: No history of asbestos exposure was reported; she had smoked 12 cigarettes a day for 15 years
• Main results:
  • CT of the chest showed a tumour 7 cm in diameter in the posterior mediastinum, close to the heart
  • An open pleural biopsy was first diagnosed as metastatic adenocarcinoma
  • A search for an original (primary) tumour found none in the lung, thyroid, breast, kidney, adrenals, ovaries, pancreas or elsewhere
  • After treatment, a CT scan showed enlarging tumour masses compressing the left atrium of the heart; the main part of the tumour was surgically removed half a year later
  • Examination of the removed tumour showed a variant of malignant pleural mesothelioma with deciduoid differentiation
  • The tumour expressed pancytokeratin, vimentin, EMA and calretinin; the authors described calretinin as a marker suggested to be specific for mesothelial cells
  • Tumour cells did not stain for beta-HCG or for progesterone or oestrogen receptors
  • The patient declined, received no further aggressive treatment, and died shortly afterwards
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded this was the first case of deciduoid pleural mesothelioma. They said it highlights the difficulty of distinguishing mesothelioma from adenocarcinoma that has spread to the pleura. They also stated they found no evidence relating the tumour's development to endogenous hormones.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Pleural Biopsy, Adenocarcinoma, Pleura.

Related studies

• Mesotheliomas with deciduoid morphology: a morphologic spectrum and a variant not confined to young females — J.H. Shanks, M. Harris, et al. (2000)
• Pulmonary function of nonsmoking female asbestos workers without radiographic signs of asbestosis — X.R. Wang, E. Yano, et al. (1998)
• A Rare Case of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma in a Young Healthy Male Without Asbestos Exposure — S. Khatib, O. Asad, et al. (2021)
• Deciduoid mesothelioma: report of 21 cases with review of the literature — N.G. Ordóñez (2012)
• Value of mesothelial and epithelial antibodies in distinguishing diffuse peritoneal mesothelioma in females from serous papillary carcinoma of the ovary and peritoneum — R.L. Attanoos, R. Webb, et al. (2002)
• Recurrence of Pericardial Mesothelioma Affecting the Myocardium After Pericardial Resection — M. Rodríguez, H.R. Mallidi, et al. (2018)

Browse more research in Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases, or return to medical research.