Non-asbestos-related malignant pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Non-asbestos-related malignant pleural mesothelioma, by A. Kanbay, Z. Ozer Simsek, N. Tutar, et al (Internal Medicine, 2014).

The study

• Authors: A. Kanbay, Z. Ozer Simsek, N. Tutar, I. Yılmaz, H. Buyukoglan, O. Canoz, R. Demir
• Journal: Internal Medicine
• Published: 2014;53(17):1977-9
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an uncommon tumor derived from mesothelial lining cells. MPM has been described as an insidious neoplasm because of its long latency period. The tumor is typically found in patients several decades after asbestos exposure. We herein describe a 26-year-old patient with MPM who presented with pleural effusion. The patient had not been exposed to asbestos or erionite. There are few case reports of non-asbestos-related MPM in young patients. We report this case to remind physicians to consider MPM in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion in young patients without exposure to asbestos or erionitis.

In plain English

This article was a case report about one patient treated at a hospital in Turkey. A 26-year-old man came to the hospital with two months of shortness of breath and chest pain. The report stated that he had no history of exposure to asbestos or erionite, a mineral fiber the authors described as the other main cause of mesothelioma in Turkey. It also stated that none of his relatives had had cancer. Imaging showed a large fluid collection and irregular thickening of the pleura, the lining around the right lung. Video-assisted chest surgery found nodules on the pleura. A biopsy led to a diagnosis of epithelial-type malignant pleural mesothelioma, staged T3N3M0. The patient was referred for six cycles of cisplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy and died 28 months after diagnosis. The authors concluded that malignant pleural mesothelioma can cause fluid around the lung even in younger patients without asbestos or erionite exposure, and that doctors should consider it in diagnosis. Because this is a case report, it describes what happened to one person and does not give a rate.

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 26-year-old man admitted to the authors' hospital (authors from Erciyes University and Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey) with shortness of breath and chest pain; dates not given
• Exposure: The report states that the patient had no history of exposure to asbestos or erionite, and that no relatives had had cancer
• Main results:
  • CT scan of the patient showed a large effusion and irregular pleural thickening; surgery (VATS) found nodules at different sites on the pleura
  • Tumor tissue tested positive for cytokeratin 5/6 and negative for CEA, B72.3 and PAS-AB; figure shows tumor cells positive for calretinin
  • Pleural biopsy showed epithelial-type malignant pleural mesothelioma
  • The tumor was staged T3N3M0
  • The patient was referred for six cycles of cisplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy and died 28 months after diagnosis
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that malignant pleural mesothelioma can cause pleural effusion even in younger patients without erionite or asbestos exposure and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion with shortness of breath

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pleural Mesothelioma, Neoplasm, Latency, Asbestos Exposure, Pleural Effusion, erionite, Differential Diagnosis.

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• Occam's Razor versus Hickam's Dictum — T.A. Newman, J.E. Takasugi, et al. (2017)
• Rounded atelectasis associated with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis — K. Kishi, S. Homma, et al. (2005)
• Increased body mass index is related to apparent circumscribed pleural thickening on plain chest radiographs — Y.C. Lee, C.K. Runnion, et al. (2001)
• Secondary renal amyloidosis associated with asbestos-related pleuropulmonary diseases — R. Shibata, T. Ozaki, et al. (2020)

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