Peritoneal mesothelioma; case report

Our plain-English summary of Peritoneal mesothelioma; case report, by E.P. Pendergrass, J. Edeiken (Cancer, 1954).

The study

• Authors: E.P. Pendergrass, J. Edeiken
• Journal: Cancer
• Published: 1954;7(5):899-904
• Cited by: 17 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This 1954 article is a case report of one patient with peritoneal mesothelioma, a tumor of the lining of the abdomen. The patient was a 50-year-old housewife seen at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The article does not mention asbestos or any other exposure. Her abdominal-wall tumor was removed in 1946, came back, and was removed again in 1947, with some tumor left behind. Radiation followed. One course (tumor dose 3000 r, meaning roentgens) made the mass and pain disappear, and a later 2500 r course did the same for a recurrence. But relief grew shorter and the tumor stopped responding. She died on June 13, 1949. Autopsy found tumor on the abdominal lining and the right pleura, with large amounts of fluid in both chest cavities and the abdomen. The authors listed 10 published cases alongside this one; none of the cases they reviewed had been treated with radiation. The authors concluded that radiation gave this patient pain relief and gross disappearance of the tumor, though growth returned within a few months.

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 of a single patient, with a table of previously published cases of peritoneal mesothelioma
• Who was studied: One woman, a 50-year-old housewife, first seen in the Radiology Department of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in November 1946 and followed until her death in June 1949; she was also treated in San Diego and Los Angeles, California
• Exposure: No asbestos or other occupational or environmental exposure is mentioned. The exposure the report describes is treatment: surgery followed by repeated courses of radiation therapy
• Main results:
  • The tumor was excised in November 1946 and recurred. A second excision on June 30, 1947 removed most of it, but residual tumor remained
  • After a recurrence, a tumor dose of 3000 r was given, with complete disappearance of the mass and the pain
  • Later, 2400 r was given to the tumor, but relief lasted only three months, and after that the tumor did not respond to radiation
  • The patient died on June 13, 1949
  • At autopsy the right chest held 3000 cc of fluid and the left 2500 cc, and 4000 cc of fluid was found in the abdomen
  • Under the microscope, the tumor nodules replacing the pleura were diagnosed as metastatic mesothelioma
  • A total of 9650 tissue roentgens was given over four years
  • In the published cases the authors tabulated, males appeared to be affected more often than females, and ages ranged from 32 to 71 years
  • None of the published cases the authors reviewed had been treated with radiation
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that in this case radiation therapy gave pain relief and gross disappearance of the tumor. They added that the patient was in relatively good health for most of the period, but tumor growth resumed within a few months after it was reduced.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors said the classification of mesothelial tumors was confused, partly because lesions earlier reported as mesothelioma could in many instances have been non-mesothelial in origin
  • The authors noted that the ovaries were recorded as present in 1946 but were absent at autopsy, with no record of their removal, which they could not explain

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

• Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma — A. Bolio-Cicero, J. Aguirre, et al. (1961)
• Mesothelioma of the pelvic peritoneum resembling papillary cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary; case report — M. Swerdlow (1959)
• Outcomes of repeat cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for the treatment of peritoneal surface malignancy — K.I. Votanopoulos, C. Ihemelandu, et al. (2012)
• Cytoreductive surgery with selective versus complete parietal peritonectomy followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in patients with diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma: a controlled study — D. Baratti, S. Kusamura, et al. (2012)
• Molecular characterization of diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma — Y.P. Hung, F. Dong, et al. (2020)
• Iterative cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for recurrent peritoneal metastases — T.C. Chua, L.E. Quinn, et al. (2013)

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