Tongue metastasis from a malignant diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura: report of a case

Our plain-English summary of Tongue metastasis from a malignant diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura: report of a case, by A. Piattelli, M. Fioroni, C. Rubini (Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 1999).

The study

• Authors: A. Piattelli, M. Fioroni, C. Rubini
• Journal: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Published: 1999;57(7):861-3
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 19 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

The authors reported a case of malignant diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura that spread to the tongue. To their knowledge it was the first reported metastasis from this tumor to the oral soft tissues; they had found only one earlier case, involving alveolar bone, in the English-language literature. A 52-year-old man underwent a left inferior lobectomy and rib resection for a pleural lesion. Under the microscope this was a partially necrotic solid malignant tumor of cuboidal cells in glandular or tubular structures. On immunohistochemistry the cells were positive for cytokeratins and vimentin and negative for B72.3 and the other markers tested. The tumor was diagnosed as malignant diffuse epithelial mesothelioma. One year later a skin metastasis appeared on the face. After a further 10 months a metastasis appeared at the thoracic surgical scar, and 2 months after that the patient presented with a tongue lesion. The lesion was removed under local anesthesia. It consisted of pleomorphic epithelial cells infiltrating muscle, positive for vimentin and cytokeratins, and was diagnosed as metastatic malignant mesothelioma. The patient was then lost to follow-up. Reviewing the literature, the authors noted that tongue metastases are extremely rare, usually occur late in widespread disease and carry a poor prognosis. Local excision, cryotherapy or radiation therapy may be considered as palliation. The article did not state whether this patient had been exposed to asbestos.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This article was a case report about one patient whose pleural mesothelioma spread to the tongue. A 52-year-old man had the lower lobe of his left lung and a rib removed because of a lesion of the pleura, the lining around the lungs. Under the microscope, the tumor was diagnosed as a "malignant diffuse epithelial mesothelioma." One year later he developed a skin metastasis on the face. Ten months after that, another metastasis appeared at the chest surgical scar. Two months later he came to the authors' department with a tongue lesion. The lesion was removed under local anesthesia. It contained abnormal epithelial-type cells growing into the tongue muscle that stained positive for vimentin and cytokeratins, and it was diagnosed as metastatic malignant mesothelioma. The patient was then lost to follow-up, so the outcome is not reported. The report did not describe any asbestos exposure for this patient. The authors stated that, to their knowledge, this was the first report of this cancer spreading to the soft tissues of the mouth.

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 52-year-old man with a pleural lesion who later presented to the authors' department with a tongue lesion. The authors are from universities in Chieti and Ancona, Italy. The article does not state where or when the patient was treated.
• Main results:
  • The original pleural tumor was a partially necrotic solid malignant tumor of cuboidal cells. The cells were positive for cytokeratins and vimentin, and the tumor was diagnosed as a malignant diffuse epithelial mesothelioma.
  • After 1 year the patient developed a skin metastasis on the face. After a further 10 months, a metastasis appeared at the thoracic surgical scar.
  • Two months later the patient had a tongue lesion. After removal, it showed pleomorphic epithelial cells infiltrating the muscle tissue.
  • The tongue tumor cells were positive for vimentin and cytokeratins, and the lesion was diagnosed as metastatic malignant mesothelioma.
  • The patient was lost to follow-up after the tongue lesion was diagnosed.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that, to their knowledge, this was the first report of a metastasis from diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma to the oral soft tissues.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Metastasis, Mesothelioma, Pleura, Immunohistochemistry, B72.3 (TAG-72), Pleomorphic, Prognosis.

Related studies

• Floor of mouth and tongue metastasis from malignant pleural mesothelioma — D. Kirke, K. Horwood, et al. (2010)
• Solitary fibrous tumour of the tongue — A. Piattelli, M. Fioroni, et al. (1998)
• Solitary fibrous tumour of the tongue: a case report with immunohistochemical studies — Y. Yamashita, T. Satoh, et al. (2002)
• Metastatic pleural mesothelioma presenting with solitary involvement of the tongue: report of a new case and review of the literature — F. Zanconati, A. DelConte, et al. (2003)
• Peritoneal mesothelioma metastasis to the tongue - Comparison with 8 pleural mesothelioma reports with tongue metastases — M.V. Vazquez, S. Selvendran, et al. (2016)
• Tongue metastasis was the first sign of malignant pleural mesothelioma detected by PET/CT — P. Xie, W. Wang, et al. (2020)

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