Malignant pleural mesothelioma in a child--a case report

Our plain-English summary of Malignant pleural mesothelioma in a child--a case report, by R. Kapoor, S. Gomber, M.M. Saha, et al (Australasian Radiology, 1988).

The study

• Authors: R. Kapoor, S. Gomber, M.M. Saha, U. Chaturvedi, S.K. Mittal, A.K. Gupta
• Journal: Australasian Radiology
• Published: 1988;32(1):134-7
• Type of article: Case report, Review
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a case report of one child with malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining around the lung. An 11-year-old boy had one month of right-sided chest pain and seven days of breathlessness. A chest X-ray showed the right side of the chest uniformly opaque, and two attempts to drain fluid were dry. Ultrasound showed a solid mass with areas of dead tissue and a little fluid. CT showed a large mass filling almost the whole right chest and pushing the lung backward. A bronchogram found no growth inside the airways. A needle biopsy was diagnosed as the fibroblastic variety of pleural mesothelioma. The mass was too large to operate on, so the boy received radiotherapy, 200 rads per day for 15 days. X-rays after 3 weeks and 6 months showed no decrease in the mass. The authors stated that neither asbestos nor environmental or occupational factors were found contributory in this case. The authors reported that the diagnosis was first suspected on ultrasound and confirmed by CT, bronchogram and biopsy.

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 11-year-old boy. The authors were based at hospitals in New Delhi. The article does not give dates of care.
• Exposure: The authors stated that neither asbestos nor environmental or occupational factors were found contributory in this case. No asbestos exposure is described.
• Main results:
  • The boy presented with right-sided chest pain for one month and breathlessness for seven days.
  • Two attempts to drain pleural fluid were dry.
  • Ultrasound showed a solid right-sided mass with areas of necrosis and a small pleural effusion.
  • The bronchogram showed the right lung pushed backward with no lesion inside the airways.
  • Needle biopsy histology was diagnosed as the fibroblastic variety of pleural mesothelioma.
  • The mass was inoperable because of its size.
  • The boy was treated with radiotherapy at 200 rads per day for 15 days. Repeat X-rays at 3 weeks and 6 months showed no decrease in the extent of the mass.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors reported that the diagnosis was first suspected on ultrasound and later confirmed by computed tomography, bronchogram and biopsy.

Topics

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

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

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