Primary peritoneal mesothelioma: case series and literature review

Our plain-English summary of Primary peritoneal mesothelioma: case series and literature review, by H. Sharma, I. Bell, J. Schofield, et al (Clinics and Research in Hepatology and Gastroenterology, 2011).

The study

• Authors: H. Sharma, I. Bell, J. Schofield, G. Bird
• Journal: Clinics and Research in Hepatology and Gastroenterology
• Published: 2011;35(1):55-9
• Type of article: Case report, Review
• Cited by: 17 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Primary peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive tumour. We present six consecutive cases treated by our institution in the last three years. All were between 56-65 years old and only one gave a history of direct contact with asbestos. Four of the patients showed a thrombocytosis on presentation but other blood tests and evaluation of ascitic fluid were normal. In all cases, the diagnosis was made through investigation of mixed abdominal symptoms with CT scanning and laparoscopic biopsy. Despite the use of modern chemotherapy, response to treatment was unpredictable, with survival from ten weeks to three years.

In plain English

This article described six consecutive patients with primary peritoneal mesothelioma (cancer of the abdominal lining) treated at one hospital in Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom, over three years, followed by a discussion of published literature. The patients were five men and one woman aged 56 to 65. One man was a pipe lagger who had earlier been found to have minor pleural plaques. The woman recalled childhood exposure: her father was an industrial worker and the family lived near a plant using asbestos. Three men denied asbestos exposure. The article's table marks three patients as asbestos-exposed, while its summary says only one had direct contact. All six tumours were of the epithelioid type. Abdominal fluid showed no cancer cells in the five patients tested. By the table, platelet counts were raised in five patients; the summary says four. Survival after diagnosis ranged from 6 weeks to 36 months, and one patient was alive at 36 months. The authors stated that there is no generally accepted treatment and that multidisciplinary assessment remains the desirable approach.

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 series of six patients from one hospital, with a narrative discussion of published literature
• Who was studied: Six consecutive patients with primary peritoneal mesothelioma treated at Maidstone Hospital, Kent, United Kingdom, over about three years (cases described from 2006). There were five men and one woman, aged 56 to 65.
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure varied and no fiber types were named. Case 1 (woman) recalled childhood exposure: her father was an industrial worker and the family lived near a plant using asbestos. Case 2 was a pipe lagger with minor pleural plaques noted in 1991. Cases 3, 4 and 5 denied exposure. The text says nothing about exposure for case 6, but the table marks case 6 as exposed.
• Main results:
  • All six tumours were of the epithelioid (epithelial) histological type.
  • Abdominal (ascitic) fluid analysed in cases 1 to 5 showed no malignant cells and no organisms.
  • Platelet counts at diagnosis were 815, 530, 630, 280, 603 and 549 (times 10 to the 9th per litre) for cases 1 to 6. The authors counted thrombocytosis (raised platelets) in five patients; case 4 was normal.
  • Survival after diagnosis, cases 1 to 6: 6 weeks, 36 months, alive at 36 months, 12 weeks, 20 weeks, and 9 weeks.
  • Cases 2 and 3 received four cycles of MVP chemotherapy (mitomycin, cisplatin and vinblastin), tolerated it well, and showed tumour regression on repeat scans. Case 4 did not tolerate oral vinorelbine. Case 5 did not tolerate carboplatin and radiotherapy. Case 6 declined treatment.
  • The authors summarised that response to treatment was unpredictable.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that there is no generally accepted treatment regime. Because the tumour is rare and there are no randomised controlled trials, they considered multidisciplinary assessment the desirable approach.

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, Biopsy, Chemotherapy.

Related studies

• Treating peritoneal mesothelioma with cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. A case series and review of the literature — K. Stamou, D. Tsamis, et al. (2015)
• Primary malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. A report of seven cases and a review of the literature — J.A. Asensio, P. Goldblatt, et al. (1990)
• Primary Peritoneal Mesothelioma Resulting in Small Bowel Obstruction: A Case Report and Review of Literature — S.C. Frontario, A. Loveitt, et al. (2015)
• Primary Ovarian Mesothelioma: A Case Series with Electron Microscopy Examination and Review of the Literature — L. Vimercati, D. Cavone, et al. (2021)
• Meningeal metastasis of a malignant peritoneal mesothelioma: A case report and literature review — Y. Jiang, Z. Mei, et al. (2019)
• Difficult to Identify: Malignant Primary Peritoneal Mesothelioma — B.S. Zha, M. Flanagan, et al. (2015)

Browse return to medical research.