Letter: Mesothelioma of the pericardium with cholesterol pericarditis

Our plain-English summary of Letter: Mesothelioma of the pericardium with cholesterol pericarditis, by E. Argianas, K. Melissinos, G. Drivas, et al (Angiology, 1974).

The study

• Authors: E. Argianas, K. Melissinos, G. Drivas, J. Demoeliopoulos
• Journal: Angiology
• Published: 1974;25(4):297-9
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 10 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A case of mesothelioma of the pericardium is presented, which initially manifested as pericarditis with cholesterol rich fluid. Diagnosis of this tumor is of importance and the aetiology of cholesterol pericarditis is of considerable clinical interest.

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

In plain English

This letter from a hospital in Athens, Greece, was a case report describing one patient. A 50-year-old woman was admitted with shortness of breath. Fluid drawn from around her heart (pericardiocentesis) had a cholesterol concentration of 225 mg per cent and contained cholesterol crystals, a condition the authors called cholesterol pericarditis. Laboratory tests excluded myxedema and tuberculosis, which the authors said are often associated with this condition. Her condition worsened, and at surgery 3 liters of bloody fluid were removed from the sac around the heart. Surgeons found a large bleeding tumor arising from the surface of the right atrium. Under the microscope it proved to be a mesothelioma, and the pericardium showed dead tissue with deposits of cholesterol crystals. She died five months after her first symptoms. The authors stated that, to their knowledge, this combination was very rare and the first reported. They concluded that when cholesterol pericarditis is found, malignancy of the pericardium should be kept in mind. The article does not mention asbestos or the patient's occupation.

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 (letter to the editor)
• Who was studied: one 50-year-old woman treated at the Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Athens Medical School, Hippokration General Hospital, Athens, Greece; dates of care not given
• Main results:
  • Fluid from pericardiocentesis in this patient had a cholesterol concentration of 225 mg per cent and contained cholesterol crystals
  • Laboratory tests in this patient excluded myxedema and tuberculosis, the conditions the authors said are often associated with cholesterol pericarditis
  • At pericardiotomy, 3 liters of hemorrhagic fluid were removed from the pericardial sac
  • A large bleeding tumor arose from the epicardial surface of the right atrium and had spread over much of the pericardium and into adjacent tissues
  • On histology the tumor was a mesothelioma
  • The pericardium showed necrotic areas with deposits of cholesterol crystals
  • The patient died five months after the first clinical manifestations of the disease
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that, to their knowledge, the combination of pericardial mesothelioma and cholesterol pericarditis was very rare and had not been reported before. They concluded that when cholesterol pericarditis is present, malignancy of the pericardium should be kept in mind among other diagnostic possibilities.

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, Pericardium.

Related studies

• Primary pericardial mesothelioma in a 19-year-old presenting as pericarditis — M.O. Kayatta, S.P. Dineen, et al. (2013)
• Letter: Mesothelioma of the pericardium with cholesterol pericarditis — L.S. Richman, M. Boehnke (1974)
• Primary malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium — J. Patel, M.N. Sheppard (2011)
• Malignancies involving the pericardium — W.H. Warren (2000)
• Pericardial Mesothelioma in a 35-Year-Old Male With Ulcerative Colitis — J. Iliff, N.K. Bart, et al. (2019)
• Recurrence of Pericardial Mesothelioma Affecting the Myocardium After Pericardial Resection — M. Rodríguez, H.R. Mallidi, et al. (2018)

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