The mesotheliomas of the small intestine

Our plain-English summary of The mesotheliomas of the small intestine, by M. Paul, G. Panabokke, M.H. Dezoysa (The British Journal of Surgery, 1965).

The study

• Authors: M. Paul, G. Panabokke, M.H. Dezoysa
• Journal: The British Journal of Surgery
• Published: 1965;52:46-8
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article, from the University of Ceylon, was a case report of one patient. The authors first argued that, because these tumours are very rare and secondary spread from other cancers is common, a diagnosis of mesothelioma should rest on features shared with synoviomas, such as clefts lined by tumour cells. They noted that published reviews of small-intestine tumours recorded no case of mesothelioma of the small intestine. The patient, a 56-year-old Sinhalese man, was admitted to the General Hospital, Colombo, in December 1962 with gross abdominal swelling, pain, vomiting and constipation. At operation, a tumour the size of an orange attached to the ileum was removed. The patient died on the operating table after stomach fluid was regurgitated as the breathing tube was withdrawn, and no post-mortem was done. The 10 cm tumour contained cystic spaces, clefts and giant cells, and the authors judged it to be of low-grade malignancy. They reported it as a mesothelioma of the ileum, stating that so far as could be ascertained there were no other growths. The article did not mention asbestos or any other exposure.

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), preceded by a discussion of how to define a mesothelioma
• Who was studied: One 56-year-old Sinhalese man admitted to the General Hospital, Colombo, Ceylon, on 20 December 1962
• Main results:
  • The patient was admitted with gross abdominal distension, abdominal pain, persistent vomiting and absolute constipation of 3 days' duration
  • At operation, a spherical mass the size of an orange was found attached to the antimesenteric border of the ileum and was removed with the attached segment of bowel
  • The patient died on the operating table after massive regurgitation of stomach fluid when the breathing tube was withdrawn; a post-mortem was refused by the relatives
  • The tumour was 10 cm in diameter, with large and small cystic spaces and an area of necrosis
  • Under the microscope the tumour was made of spheroidal to spindle-shaped cells, with cystic spaces and papillae lined by the same cells, one or two giant cells per low-power field and no foam cells; the authors judged it to be of low-grade malignancy
  • The authors based the diagnosis on the tumour having many features characterizing synoviomas
• The authors' conclusion: The authors reported the case as a mesothelioma of the ileum and stated that no similar case had been reported before
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors qualified their statement that the patient had no other growths with 'so far as could be ascertained'. No post-mortem was performed.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• A preliminary study of biochemical changes in the rat small intestine following long-term ingestion of chrysotile asbestos — R. Jacobs, K.S. Dodgson, et al. (1977)
• Toxic effect on the rat small intestine of chronic administration of asbestos in drinking water — T.J. Delahunty, D. Hollander (1987)
• Distribution of 6-6(n)-3[H]sucrose and its radiolabeled degradation products from isolated, perfused rat small intestine loops following prolonged ingestion of chrysotile asbestos — R. Jacobs, R.J. Richards (1980)
• Primary Peritoneal Mesothelioma Resulting in Small Bowel Obstruction: A Case Report and Review of Literature — S.C. Frontario, A. Loveitt, et al. (2015)
• Mucin-positive epithelial mesothelioma of the peritoneum: small bowel involvement — J.H. Kim, K.Y. Kwon, et al. (2011)
• Assessing Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Solid Tumors: A Practical Review for Pathologists and Proposal for a Standardized Method from the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers Working Group: Part 2: TILs in Melanoma, Gastrointestinal Tract Carcinomas, Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma and Mesothelioma, Endometrial and Ovarian Carcinomas, Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck, Genitourinary Carcinomas, and Primary Brain Tumors — S. Hendry, R. Salgado, et al. (2017)

Browse more research in The British Journal of Surgery, or return to medical research.