Diffuse pleural mesothelioma with distant bone metastasis. A case report

Our plain-English summary of Diffuse pleural mesothelioma with distant bone metastasis. A case report, by R.N. Laurini (Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica. Section A, Pathology, 1974).

The study

• Author: R.N. Laurini
• Journal: Acta Pathologica et Microbiologica Scandinavica. Section A, Pathology
• Published: 1974;82(2):296-8
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A diffuse malignant mixed type of pleural mesothelioma with distant bone metastasis is reported. Distant bone metastasis has only been recorded once in the literature but not adequately documented. Metastases in this patient were with one exception, all osseous. Staining properties of the pleural tumour and metastases are compared. All metastases showed epithelial-like and fibrosarcomatous component with staining properties similar to the pleural tumour.

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

In plain English

This was a case report of one patient, from Hammersmith Hospital, London. The patient, a 56-year-old Caucasian man, had worked all his life as a heating engineer and had smoked 20 cigarettes a day until 7 years earlier. He was admitted with increasing breathlessness and an ache over the right chest. At necropsy, a diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma of mixed type filled the right pleural cavity and had grown directly into the right 5th rib, the pericardium and the diaphragm. Tumour also replaced many vertebral bodies and most of the head of the right humerus. The humeral deposit was not connected to the pleural tumour. A 2 cm liver nodule was the only other metastasis. The left pleura showed extensive asbestos plaques, and asbestos bodies were found. On microscopy, the bone and liver deposits resembled the pleural tumour. The distant humeral metastasis did not differ from deposits that spread by direct growth. The author stated that, among the literature reviewed, this was the first distant bone metastasis with histological confirmation. No asbestos fiber type was named.

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, including necropsy and histological study)
• Who was studied: One 56-year-old Caucasian man seen at Hammersmith Hospital, London; symptoms began in 1972; necropsy performed
• Exposure: Lifelong work as a heating engineer; smoked 20 cigarettes a day until 7 years before admission. Extensive asbestos plaques and asbestos bodies were found, but no fiber type was named.
• Main results:
  • The pleural tumour was a diffuse malignant mesothelioma, mixed type
  • Tumour partly or completely replaced multiple vertebral bodies (exact levels garbled in the scan)
  • Tumour replacing most of the head of the right humerus was not continuous with the pleural tumour, making it a distant metastasis
  • The only other metastasis was a 2 cm white nodule in the right lobe of the liver
  • The left parietal pleura showed extensive coalescent asbestos plaques
  • The presence of asbestos bodies was confirmed
  • All bone metastases showed epithelial-like and fibromatous components with staining similar to the pleural tumour
  • The distant metastasis did not differ from the bone deposits that developed by continuity
  • The liver metastasis had the same histology as the bone metastases
  • From the author's literature review, this was described as the first distant bone metastasis of mesothelioma with histological confirmation
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that this case of malignant mesothelioma had a histologically confirmed distant bone metastasis, and that epithelial-like cells and acid mucopolysaccharides were present in both types of bone metastases (distant and by direct spread).

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, Metastasis.

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