Diffuse pulmonary mesothelioma presenting as bilateral lymphangitis

Our plain-English summary of Diffuse pulmonary mesothelioma presenting as bilateral lymphangitis, by A.P. Chahinian (Thorax, 1986).

The study

• Author: A.P. Chahinian
• Journal: Thorax
• Published: 1986;41(3):223
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This is a short letter to the editor, not a new study. The author was responding to a 1985 Thorax report by Dr K Solomons and colleagues. That report described a case of malignant pleural mesothelioma with diffuse interstitial pulmonary infiltration found at necropsy, and said such an occurrence had not previously been recognised as a radiological and clinical entity. The author wrote that this statement seemed erroneous and pointed to a similar case the author's group had reported in 1978. That patient was 46 years old and had a right epithelial pleural mesothelioma. Chest radiography showed diffuse bilateral reticular nodular infiltrates in the lungs. Neoplastic interstitial pulmonary spread, meaning cancer spreading through the lung tissue, was diagnosed while the patient was alive, by fibreoptic bronchoscopy and transbronchial lung biopsy. After chemotherapy with doxorubicin and 5-azacytidine, there was a clinical and radiological response, which the author called remarkable. The patient survived three and a half years from first treatment. This describes one patient and gives no rate. The letter 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: letter to the editor (correspondence) referring to a single case the author's group previously reported in 1978
• Who was studied: one 46 year old patient with a right epithelial pleural mesothelioma (place and dates not given in the letter)
• Main results:
  • The patient's chest radiography showed diffuse bilateral pulmonary reticular nodular infiltrates
  • Neoplastic interstitial pulmonary spread was diagnosed while the patient was alive, by fibreoptic bronchoscopy and transbronchial lung biopsy
  • After chemotherapy with doxorubicin and 5-azacytidine, the patient had a clinical and radiological response (described by the author as remarkable) and survived three and a half years from first treatment
• The authors' conclusion: The author considered erroneous the statement by Solomons and colleagues that diffuse interstitial pulmonary spread of pleural mesothelioma had not previously been recognised as a radiological and clinical entity

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Bilateral.

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• Diffuse intrapulmonary malignant mesothelioma presenting with miliary pulmonary nodules: A case report — T. Hida, M. Hamasaki, et al. (2015)
• Lymphangitic carcinomatosis: A common radiographic manifestation of local failure following extended pleurectomy/decortication in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma — I. Berger, K.A. Cengel, et al. (2019)
• Amyloidosis presenting as bilateral transudative pleural effusions with normal cardiac investigations: a case report — J.H. Briggs, W.G. Singleton, et al. (2009)
• Yellow Nail Syndrome with Bilateral Pleural Plaques and Diffuse Pleural Thickening: A Mimic of Asbestos Related Disease — A. Dallmann, R.L. Attanoos (2018)

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