Localized biphasic type malignant mesothelioma arising in the peritoneum: Report of a case

Our plain-English summary of Localized biphasic type malignant mesothelioma arising in the peritoneum: Report of a case, by M. Kohno, R. Maruyama, D. Kitagawa, et al (Thoracic Cancer, 2014).

The study

• Authors: M. Kohno, R. Maruyama, D. Kitagawa, K. Sugimachi, M. Kinjo, H. Higashi
• Journal: Thoracic Cancer
• Published: 2014;5(1):74-7
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

This report describes a rare case of localized malignant biphasic (mixed epithelioid and sarcomatoid) mesothelioma arising in the peritoneum. A 69-year-old male with a history of asbestos exposure, complaining of a painful mass in the left chest wall, was found via computed tomography (CT) to have a tumor in the left peritoneum. The resected tumor was histologically and immunohistochemically consistent with a malignant mesothelioma with mixed epithelioid and sarcomatoid type and no distant metastasis. The diagnosis of localized malignant biphasic mesothelioma arising in the peritoneum was appropriate because there was no evidence of any other primary tumor.

In plain English

This case report from a hospital in Kitakyushu, Japan, described a 69-year-old man with a history of asbestos exposure, of which the article gave no details. He had a painful left chest wall mass that had grown over six months. A CT scan showed a 7.1 cm tumor on the left anterolateral abdominal wall. Surgeons removed it in one piece with two ribs, the diaphragm and parietal peritoneum. It had invaded the omentum but not, as imaging suggested, the colon. No pleural or peritoneal spread or fluid was seen. Microscopic and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with localized biphasic (mixed epithelioid and sarcomatoid) malignant mesothelioma arising in the peritoneum. A post-operative PET scan showed no other primary tumor or distant spread. Because of his angina and cardiac depression and because the tumor was localized, he was followed closely without further treatment. He was well without recurrence seven months after surgery. The authors described this as the second reported case of its kind. They concluded that malignant mesothelioma should be considered for such abdominal wall tumors, especially with a history of asbestos 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: case report (single patient)
• Who was studied: One 69-year-old man treated at Steel Memorial Yawata Hospital, Kitakyushu, Japan; the case is listed as 2012
• Exposure: A history of asbestos exposure; no fiber type, job, product or dose is given
• Main results:
  • CT showed a 7.1 cm tumor mass on the left anterolateral abdominal wall
  • On thoracoscopic inspection no pleural or peritoneal dissemination or effusion was found
  • The tumor was resected en bloc with two ribs, the diaphragm and parietal peritoneum. It invaded only the omentum, not the transverse colon as suspected on imaging
  • Tumor cells were strongly positive for vimentin, pancytokeratin and CK7, weakly positive for calretinin and CK5/6, and negative for WT-1 and D2-40
  • Post-operative FDG-PET showed no sign of another primary tumor or distant metastasis
  • Adjuvant therapy was considered, but the patient was followed closely without therapy because he had angina and cardiac depression and because the tumor was localized. He had no recurrence seven months after surgery
  • The authors stated this is the second reported case of localized peritoneal biphasic mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that malignant mesothelioma should be included in the differential diagnosis of a primary left anterolateral abdominal wall tumor, especially in patients with a history of asbestos exposure

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Biphasic Mesothelioma, Malignant Mesothelioma, Peritoneum, Epithelioid, Sarcomatoid, Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Metastasis.

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• Localized malignant pleural mesothelioma arising in the interlobar fissure: a unique surgical case masquerading clinicopathologically as primary lung adenocarcinoma — X. Guo, J. Watanabe, et al. (2019)
• Localized multiple malignant epithelioid peritoneal mesotheliomas arising from the hepatoduodenal ligament and diaphragm: a case report — T. Miyata, Y. Fujiwara, et al. (2019)
• Localized Biphasic Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma with Rhabdoid Features Involving the Liver: Case Report and Review of the Literature — D. Hassan, S. Ligato (2019)
• Localized biphasic malignant peritoneal mesothelioma presenting as a rectal tumor — K. Saisho, S. Fujiwara, et al. (2020)

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