Mesothelioma of the pelvic peritoneum resembling papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary; case report

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma of the pelvic peritoneum resembling papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary; case report, by M. Swerdlow (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1959).

The study

• Author: M. Swerdlow
• Journal: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Published: 1959;77(1):197-200
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 184 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A case is presented in which a papillary tumor with psammoma bodies resembling ovarian carcinoma is felt to have arisen from the pelvic peritoneum.

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

In plain English

This article was a case report about one patient, a 27-year-old white woman with pelvic pain, frequent and urgent urination, and a feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen that had worsened over the previous 2 years. At surgery, a friable, granular tumor measuring 8.5 by 7.0 by 5.0 cm was found pressing on the bladder. It was densely attached to the mesentery of the transverse colon and the urachal region, and it almost completely surrounded the peritoneal surface of the left uterine tube. Both ovaries and the right tube looked normal. Under the microscope the tumor contained calcified psammoma-like bodies and resembled a papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary. A cyst lined by endometrial tissue lay next to the left tube. The author judged the tubes and uterus unlikely sources and concluded that the tumor was felt to have arisen from the pelvic peritoneum. The author admitted that a small undetected ovarian tumor, or a more distant primary tumor, remained possible. The article did not mention asbestos or any other exposure, and it did not report the patient's outcome.

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 (one patient)
• Who was studied: one 27-year-old white woman; the article does not give the place or date of treatment (the author is listed in Chicago)
• Main results:
  • At exploratory laparotomy the tumor was densely attached to the mesentery of the transverse colon and the urachal region and almost completely surrounded the peritoneal surface of the left uterine tube. It was only loosely attached to the bladder and uterus.
  • Both ovaries and the right uterine tube appeared grossly normal.
  • The tumor measured 8.5 by 7.0 by 5.0 cm.
  • Under the microscope, calcified psammoma-like bodies sat in the center of almost every papillary structure. Cells in mitosis were rarely seen.
  • A cyst next to the left uterine tube, surrounded by tumor, was lined by typical endometrial epithelium.
  • The tumor's microscopic appearance resembled ovarian papillary cystadenocarcinoma.
  • The author considered the uterine tubes an unlikely origin. The right tube was uninvolved, and the mucosa of the left tube was not involved by tumor.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the papillary tumor, which resembled ovarian carcinoma, arose from the pelvic peritoneum. The author suggested that some influence, perhaps inflammatory or hormonal, caused the peritoneum to form both the endometrial cyst and the tumor.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author acknowledged that a small undetected primary tumor in an ovary, or a more distant primary tumor, could not be excluded, despite the surgeon's statements.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Value of mesothelial and epithelial antibodies in distinguishing diffuse peritoneal mesothelioma in females from serous papillary carcinoma of the ovary and peritoneum — R.L. Attanoos, R. Webb, et al. (2002)
• Cytopathology of serous neoplasia of the ovary and the peritoneum: differential diagnosis from mesothelial proliferations — L.R. Pisharodi, C.W. Bedrossian (1996)
• An autopsy case of serous papillary carcinoma of peritoneum with distant metastases but no peritoneal dissemination — O. Miyaishi, K. Iida, et al. (1994)
• Expression of calretinin in human ovary, testis, and ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors — Q.J. Cao, J.G. Jones, et al. (2001)
• Well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma of the peritoneum: a diagnostic dilemma on fine-needle aspiration cytology — J.G. Nasit, G. Dhruva (2014)
• Incidental finding of multiple well-differentiated papillary mesotheliomas in peritoneum — M. Jakobsen, B. Engvad, et al. (2016)

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