Granulocytic sarcoma of the peritoneum

Our plain-English summary of Granulocytic sarcoma of the peritoneum, by T. Miksanek, C.V. Reyes, Z. Semkiw, et al (CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 1983).

The study

• Authors: T. Miksanek, C.V. Reyes, Z. Semkiw, Z.V. Molnar
• Journal: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
• Published: 1983;33(1):40-3
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 14 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Granulocytic sarcoma is an unusual extramedullary tumor composed of immature cells of the myelogenous series; it usually occurs during the course of myelogenous leukemia. This paper presents a rare case of granulocytic sarcoma of the peritoneum, occurring without evidence of myelogenous leukemia in peripheral blood and bone marrow.

In plain English

This article is a case report about one patient. A 73-year-old white man with chronic obstructive lung disease attributed to cigarette smoking was admitted to hospital to evaluate pancytopenia (low counts of all blood cell types), first noted 21 months earlier. He had worked as a laborer in a can company and reported a vague exposure to paints and solvents. The article does not mention asbestos. In hospital he developed fluid in the abdomen, which contained a prominent number of young myelocytes and monocytes. He died 32 days after admission. At autopsy the lining of the abdomen (peritoneum) was thickened up to 2.5 cm, which the authors said simulated malignant mesothelioma. Microscopy, special stains and electron microscopy identified granulocytic sarcoma, a tumor of immature blood-forming cells. The authors reported that it occurred without evidence of myelogenous leukemia in the peripheral blood or bone marrow. The authors stated that the peritoneum was a location not previously described in the literature. They concluded that the case highlights the difficulty of diagnosing such tumors, and that distinguishing them from other tumors is important because prognosis and treatment differ.

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 autopsy findings)
• Who was studied: one 73-year-old white man with chronic obstructive lung disease secondary to cigarette smoking, seen at a Veterans Administration hospital in Hines, Illinois
• Exposure: Prior work as a laborer in a can company and a vague exposure to paints and solvents. Cigarette smoking is also noted. Asbestos is not mentioned.
• Main results:
  • Pancytopenia was first noted 21 months before the admission
  • Peripheral blood smears were unremarkable except for neutropenia and decreased platelets. The bone marrow showed occasional myeloblasts.
  • The abdominal (peritoneal) fluid contained a prominent number of young myelocytes and monocytes
  • The patient died 32 days after admission
  • At autopsy the peritoneum was thickened up to 2.5 cm, an appearance described as simulating malignant mesothelioma
  • Leder stain and antilysozyme immunoperoxidase results were consistent with cells of the granulocytic series
  • The granulocytic sarcoma of the peritoneum occurred without evidence of myelogenous leukemia in the peripheral blood and bone marrow
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the case highlights the diagnostic difficulty of such tumors. They wrote that it is important to distinguish granulocytic sarcoma from other tumors because prognosis and treatment differ.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Sarcoma, Peritoneum.

Related studies

• Well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma of the peritoneum: a diagnostic dilemma on fine-needle aspiration cytology — J.G. Nasit, G. Dhruva (2014)
• Is PAX2 a reliable marker in differentiating diffuse malignant mesotheliomas of peritoneum from serous carcinomas of müllerian origin? — F.F. Gao, A.M. Krasinskas, et al. (2012)
• Papillary mesothelioma of the peritoneum in the absence of asbestos exposure — T. Meister, T. Birkfellner, et al. (2003)
• Malignant epithelial mesothelioma of the peritoneum: observations on a problem case — B.P. Eyden, S. Banik, et al. (1996)
• Mesothelioma of the pelvic peritoneum resembling papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary; case report — M. Swerdlow (1959)
• Diffuse mesothelioma of the peritoneum: correlation between histological and clinical parameters and survival in 73 patients — S. Liu, P. Staats, et al. (2014)

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