Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma in children: description of two cases and review of the literature

Our plain-English summary of Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma in children: description of two cases and review of the literature, by M. Kovalivker, A. Motovic (Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 1985).

The study

• Authors: M. Kovalivker, A. Motovic
• Journal: Journal of Pediatric Surgery
• Published: 1985;20(3):274-5
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 14 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 004223).

Abstract

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) in children has been rarely described in the literature. During the last 10 years we have seen 2 cases. The first was a 2-year-old boy who died 3 months after surgery. The second is now alive two and a half years after the mesothelioma was found, has undergone 3 laparotomies for recurrent tumor, and is now receiving chemotherapy and is apparently free of tumor.

In plain English

This article, from the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, Israel, described two children with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma seen over 10 years. It also briefly reviewed four earlier published childhood cases. In 1971 a two-year-old boy had a 10 cm tumor removed from the omentum, along with two small 2 cm tumors of the peritoneum. The tumor was a mixed epithelial and sarcomatous type. Despite radiotherapy and chemotherapy, a new mass formed, and he died three months after surgery. In 1979 an eight-year-old girl had a 15 x 15 cm omental tumor removed. It was first reported as a "benign mesothelioma," so no further treatment was given. Tumors came back twice and were removed at two more operations, and the first recurrence was diagnosed as malignant mesothelioma. At the time of writing she was alive two and a half years after the tumor was found, receiving chemotherapy and apparently free of tumor. The article did not report asbestos exposure for either child. The authors stated that in children no correlation with asbestos has been found.

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: Report of two cases (case reports) with a brief review of previously published cases in children
• Who was studied: Two children treated at Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel, over a 10-year period: a two-year-old boy admitted in November 1971 and an 8-year-old girl admitted in February 1979
• Exposure: No asbestos or other exposure history was reported for either child. The authors stated that no correlation with asbestos has been found in children.
• Main results:
  • Case 1 (two-year-old boy): a mixed epithelial and sarcomatous mesothelioma arising from the omentum was resected. A new mass formed during two months of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and the child died three months after the first operation. No autopsy was performed.
  • Case 2 (8-year-old girl): a 15 x 15 cm omental tumor was first called a "benign mesothelioma" and was not treated further. Nine months later a 6 x 5 cm mass from the parietal peritoneum was removed and diagnosed as malignant mesothelioma, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
  • Case 2: a year later a third operation removed a 5 x 7 cm tumor, described as being of a mixed epithelial and sarcomatous type.
  • Case 2: at the time of writing, two and a half years after the mesothelioma was found, the girl was receiving chemotherapy and was apparently free of tumor.
  • Literature review (earlier reports by other authors, not this study): among four previously reported children, one girl (Kauffman and Stout) was alive and well 6 years after tumor removal. One 3-year-old (Gutman et al) survived 20 months. Two children (Turpin et al; Casey Jones and Silver) died within two weeks.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors described malignant peritoneal mesothelioma as extremely rare in children. They reported that the second child's latest course of treatment was given apparently with good results, with CT scanning, ultrasound and chest x-ray remaining negative.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Malignant mesothelioma in children: report of seven cases and review of the literature — J. Brenner, P.P. Sordillo, et al. (1981)
• Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion with chemotherapy in children with peritoneal tumor spread: A French nationwide study over 14 years — A. Scalabre, P. Philippe-Chomette, et al. (2018)
• Malignant biphasic peritoneal mesothelioma in a child: fine-needle aspiration cytology, histopathology, and immunohistochemical features along with review of literature — S.K. Arora, R. Srinivasan, et al. (2012)
• Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma: Patterns of Care and Survival in the Netherlands: A Population-Based Study — N.L. de Boer, J.P. van Kooten, et al. (2019)
• van Ruth S, Bronkhorst MWGA, van Coeverden F, Zoetmulder FAN. Peritoneal benign cystic mesothelioma: a case report and review of literature. Eur J Surg Oncol 2002; 28(2): 192-5 — K. Sethna, F. Mohamed, et al. (2002)
• Treating peritoneal mesothelioma with cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. A case series and review of the literature — K. Stamou, D. Tsamis, et al. (2015)

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