The sister Mary Joseph nodule

Our plain-English summary of The sister Mary Joseph nodule, by K. Zhang, C. Sankey (Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2015).

The study

• Authors: K. Zhang, C. Sankey
• Journal: Journal of General Internal Medicine
• Published: 2015;30(5):689-90
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This article was a brief clinical image report about a single patient. A 63-year-old Puerto Rican man came to medical attention with penile swelling, discomfort and difficulty urinating. On examination, doctors found a firm, nodular mass at his navel (umbilicus). They first thought it was an umbilical hernia that could not be pushed back in. A CT scan of the abdomen showed a 4-cm nodule at the navel, a 10-cm mass behind the bladder, and several more masses in the inguinal canal, liver and retroperitoneum. A biopsy of the navel nodule was consistent with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. The authors identified the lesion as a so-called Sister Mary Joseph nodule. They described this sign as indicating an underlying abdominal cancer and a poor prognosis. The patient chose to pursue treatment near family in Puerto Rico and was discharged, so no later outcome was reported. The article did not mention asbestos or the patient's work or exposure history. It describes one person; the background percentages it cites come from earlier published studies, not from this case.

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 (clinical image) of a single patient
• Who was studied: one 63-year-old Puerto Rican man seen by the authors at Yale (New Haven, CT, USA) with penile swelling, discomfort and difficulty urinating
• Main results:
  • On physical examination the patient had a firm, nodular mass at the umbilicus, initially thought to be an irreducible umbilical hernia
  • Abdominal CT showed a 4-cm umbilical nodule and a 10-cm mass behind the bladder
  • CT also showed multiple additional masses in the inguinal canal, liver and retroperitoneum
  • Biopsy of the umbilical nodule was consistent with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma
  • The patient elected to pursue treatment near family in Puerto Rico and was discharged from the authors' care; no outcome was reported
• The authors' conclusion: The authors described the umbilical lesion as a so-called Sister Mary Joseph nodule, which they said is indicative of underlying abdominal malignancy and poor prognosis

Topics

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

Related studies

• Sister Mary Joseph's nodule as primary localized malignant mesothelioma. Report of a case — A. Papalambros, F. Sigala, et al. (2011)
• Concomitant malignant mesothelioma of the pleura, peritoneum, and tunica vaginalis testis — V. Ascoli, F. Facciolo, et al. (1996)
• Simultaneous bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax in a patient with peritoneal and pleural papillary mesothelioma — P. Höllinger, D. Gaeng (1997)
• Combined adenomatoid tumor and well differentiated papillary mesothelioma of the omentum — Y. Hatano, Y. Hirose, et al. (2011)
• Nodular hemangiomatosis of pleura and peritoneum — S. Ribback, A. Thiele, et al. (2011)
• Colonic invasion of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma — C.C. Chan, H. Isomoto, et al. (2010)

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