Localized mesothelioma of the pericardium

Our plain-English summary of Localized mesothelioma of the pericardium, by C.M. Linthicum (Southern Medical Journal, 1969).

The study

• Author: C.M. Linthicum
• Journal: Southern Medical Journal
• Published: 1969;62(2):207-8
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was a case report from the Department of Pathology at Montebello State Hospital in Baltimore. It described a 72-year-old woman, called a "colored woman" in the article, who was admitted on February 21, 1966, for rehabilitation after a stroke. She had diabetes and high blood pressure. She died suddenly on March 9. At autopsy the immediate cause of death was a large blood clot (embolus) blocking both main branches of the pulmonary artery. The autopsy also found, by chance, a tumor 2.5 cm across on the back wall of the left atrium of the heart. It severely compressed a nearby vein, the coronary sinus. Under the microscope the tumor did not invade the heart muscle, and no dividing cells (mitotic figures) were seen. No other tumor was found in the body. The author concluded that the tumor's microscopic appearance and its location warranted a diagnosis of localized mesothelioma, that its cells appeared benign, and that it had caused no symptoms. The report did not mention asbestos or any work or other exposure history.

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 autopsy case)
• Who was studied: One 72-year-old woman (described in the article as a "colored woman") admitted to Montebello State Hospital, Baltimore, on Feb 21, 1966, for rehabilitation after a cerebrovascular accident (stroke); she was diabetic and had hypertension
• Main results:
  • The patient's immediate cause of death was a large embolus blocking both major branches of the pulmonary artery.
  • In this patient, a tumor 2.5 cm in greatest diameter was found on the posterior wall of the left atrium. It severely compressed the underlying coronary sinus.
  • Microscopically, the tumor was not encapsulated and did not invade the underlying heart muscle (myocardium).
  • No mitotic figures were seen in the tumor.
  • No other tumor was found anywhere in the patient's body.
  • According to the author, the tumor caused no symptoms because of its small size and the absence of pericardial effusion.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the tumor's microscopic (histologic) appearance and its location warranted a diagnosis of localized mesothelioma, and that it appeared benign cytologically (judged by its cells). Because no other tumor was found at autopsy, the author considered it evidence against the view that such lesions are metastases from an undiscovered cancer.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Primary tumors and cysts of the heart and pericardium — H.A. McAllister (1979)
• Primary malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium. Case report and literature review — R. Thomason, W. Schlegel, et al. (1994)
• Malignant mesothelioma arising after direct application of asbestos and fiber glass to the pericardium — A. Churg, M.L. Warnock, et al. (1978)
• Primary malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium — J. Patel, M.N. Sheppard (2011)
• Malignancies involving the pericardium — W.H. Warren (2000)
• Extrapericardial solitary fibrous tumour of the pericardium — S.M. Andreani, L. Tavecchio, et al. (1998)

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