Gelatinous Pleural Fluid With Mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Gelatinous Pleural Fluid With Mesothelioma, by M. Kaous, L. Bashoura, S.A. Faiz (Archivos de Bronconeumología, 2021).

The study

• Authors: M. Kaous, L. Bashoura, S.A. Faiz
• Journal: Archivos de Bronconeumología
• Published: 2021;57(8):543
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article is a short 'clinical image' report about one middle-aged woman with mesothelioma, written by doctors in Houston, Texas. It does not mention asbestos or any other exposure history. She had fluid that kept returning around her right lung (a recurrent right pleural effusion). An earlier biopsy at another hospital had not settled whether the cause was mesothelioma or lung cancer. At the authors' institution, video-assisted chest surgery with talc pleurodesis found multiple nodules on the pleura covered in mucus-like material. Pathology confirmed epithelioid malignant mesothelioma. Five months later, draining her right chest produced 2.1 L of thick, jelly-like fluid. Tests showed a white cell count of 950, nearly all mononuclear cells, negative cultures, and rare atypical cells. Because the fluid came back, an indwelling pleural catheter (a drainage tube left in place) was inserted. It was drained daily and removed 18 months later without infection or malfunction. She also received carboplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy. She later died of progressive disease. The authors wrote that the catheter relieved her symptoms and helped avoid further procedures.

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 (published as a 'Clinical Image')
• Who was studied: One middle-aged woman, seen for a second opinion at the authors' institution in Houston, Texas, USA; dates not given
• Exposure: The article does not report any asbestos or other exposure history for the patient
• Main results:
  • Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery showed multiple pleural nodules covered in mucinous material, and pathology confirmed epithelioid malignant mesothelioma
  • Five months later, thoracentesis of the right chest yielded 2.1 L of thick jelly-like fluid
  • Pleural fluid analysis showed an elevated total protein of 3.1 (units not given) and a cell count of 950 white cells (1 neutrophil, 98 mononuclear, 1 other). Cultures were negative and cytology showed rare atypical cells
  • An indwelling pleural catheter was drained daily and removed 18 months after placement, with no catheter-related infection or malfunction reported
  • The patient received 6 cycles of carboplatin and pemetrexed, then maintenance pemetrexed, and later died of progressive disease
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that gelatinous pleural effusion may present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. In this patient, whose effusion recurred despite talc pleurodesis, the indwelling pleural catheter provided symptom palliation and helped avoid additional procedures.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Malignant pleural fluid from mesothelioma has potent biological activities — H.M. Cheah, S.M. Lansley, et al. (2017)
• Defect in recruiting effector memory CD8+ T-cells in malignant pleural effusions compared to normal pleural fluid — A. Scherpereel, B.D. Grigoriu, et al. (2013)
• Longitudinal Measurement of Pleural Fluid Biochemistry and Cytokines in Malignant Pleural Effusions — R. Thomas, H.M. Cheah, et al. (2016)
• Pleural fluid cytological yield and visceral pleural invasion in patients with epithelioid malignant pleural mesothelioma — V. Pinelli, S. Laroumagne, et al. (2012)
• Evaluation of seven tumour markers in pleural fluid for the diagnosis of malignant effusions — M. Miédougé, P. Rouzaud, et al. (1999)
• The sensitivity of cytologic evaluation of pleural fluid in the diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma — E.A. Rakha, S. Patil, et al. (2010)

Browse more research in Archivos de Bronconeumología, or return to medical research.