Peritoneal mesothelioma--a case report

Our plain-English summary of Peritoneal mesothelioma--a case report, by S. Sawhney, M. Berry (Australasian Radiology, 1988).

The study

• Authors: S. Sawhney, M. Berry
• Journal: Australasian Radiology
• Published: 1988;32(4):490-2
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This case report, from a radiology department in New Delhi, described one patient with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the abdomen. The patient was a 26-year-old male farmer. He came for care in April 1985 after two months of poor appetite, diarrhoea, moderate weight loss and abdominal pain. The report did not describe any asbestos exposure for him. Attempts to draw fluid from his abdomen failed. Barium X-rays showed fixed, displaced small bowel loops. Ultrasound showed diffuse sheet-like echoes throughout the abdomen encasing the bowel, with no fluid (ascites), which the authors called unusual. His abdomen swelled progressively, he became comatose and he died. The authors wrote that he died two months after admission. At autopsy, a large yellowish lobulated mass filled the abdominal cavity. The tumor was of a purely epithelial type. The authors concluded that this cancer is fatal and that its X-ray findings are non-specific. They also concluded that the ultrasound pattern seen here should raise strong suspicion of peritoneal mesothelioma. Body CT scanning was not available at their institution.

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 male farmer who presented in April 1985 at the authors' institution (Department of Radio-Diagnosis, A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi, India)
• Exposure: Not reported: the article gives no asbestos or other exposure history for this patient and describes him only as a farmer
• Main results:
  • The patient had two months of anorexia, diarrhoea and moderate weight loss, with diffuse abdominal pain
  • Attempts to tap abdominal fluid from all 4 quadrants produced no fluid
  • A barium meal showed fixed, displaced small bowel loops with extrinsic indentation and spiky walls
  • Sonography showed diffuse sheet-like low-level echoes throughout the abdominal cavity, with no ascites
  • The authors described the absence of ascites in this patient as unusual
  • The patient became febrile, drowsy and comatose, and died. The authors wrote that he died 2 months after admission (the sentence is split by figure captions in the text, with 'admission.' following the Figure I caption)
  • At autopsy, the abdominal cavity was filled by a large, yellowish lobulated mass
  • Histologically, the tumor was a purely epithelial type of malignant mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that peritoneal mesothelioma is fatal and that its radiographic findings are non-specific. They concluded that diffuse, sheet-like low-level echoes on sonography that encase the abdominal organs should raise a high index of suspicion for the diagnosis. They added that CT, if available, gives more information on the extent of disease.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Body CT, which the authors describe as reported to be superior for this diagnosis, was not available at their institution

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.

Related studies

• Ultrasonography and computed tomography of peritoneal mesothelioma — H.C. Yeh, A.P. Chahinian (1980)
• Giant benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma: US, CT, and MRI findings — A. Ozgen, D. Akata, et al. (1998)
• Benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma — J.A. Schneider, E.J. Zelnick (1985)
• Imaging appearance of benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma: a case report and review of the literature — V. Mehta, V. Chowdhary, et al. (2017)
• Benign cystic peritoneal mesothelioma incorrectly diagnosed as an ovarian borderline mucinous tumor of intestinal type at transvaginal preoperative ultrasound evaluation — A.C. Testa, G.F. Zannoni, et al. (2011)
• Cystic appearance of a malignant peritoneal mesothelioma by ultrasonography and computed tomography: a case report — K.W. Preidler, H. Steiner, et al. (1994)

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