Tongue metastasis was the first sign of malignant pleural mesothelioma detected by PET/CT

Our plain-English summary of Tongue metastasis was the first sign of malignant pleural mesothelioma detected by PET/CT, by P. Xie, W. Wang, J. Yang (European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2020).

The study

• Authors: P. Xie, W. Wang, J. Yang
• Journal: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
• Published: 2020;47(9):2218-2219
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article is a short 'Image of the Month' case report about one patient, written by doctors at two hospitals in China. A 63-year-old man had a 3-month history of gradually worsening dysphasia (the article's term). Examination found a grey-white, firm, tender mass at the root of his tongue. A PET/CT scan was done to look at the tongue lesion. It showed raised activity in the tongue mass (SUVmax 11.2). It also showed a second area of raised activity in the left lower chest: a large mass along the chest lining, about 7.3 × 4.0 cm (SUVmax 10.0). Further questioning found that he had been exposed to asbestos for about 5 years and had no other lung disease or cancer history. The article does not say what type of asbestos or what work was involved. Biopsies of both masses confirmed malignant pleural mesothelioma that had spread to the tongue. The authors wrote that tongue spread from this cancer had been reported before, but not as the first presenting symptom. They called the case unexpected and very unique.

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 'Image of the Month' imaging report)
• Who was studied: one 63-year-old man; the authors are from hospitals in Hebei and Beijing, China; the article does not give dates of care
• Exposure: asbestos exposure for approximately 5 years; fiber type, products and job are not stated
• Main results:
  • Physical examination found a grey-white, firm, tender mass at the root of the tongue
  • On PET/CT the tongue lesion showed increased FDG activity with SUVmax 11.2
  • PET/CT also found a pleural-based soft tissue mass in the left lower chest, approximately 7.3 × 4.0 cm on CT
  • The chest mass had central necrosis and SUVmax 10.0
  • Biopsies of the tongue mass and the chest mass confirmed malignant pleural mesothelioma with tongue metastasis
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that tongue metastasis from malignant pleural mesothelioma had been reported before, but not as the first presenting symptom, and called their case unexpected and very unique

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Gingival metastasis as first sign of multiorgan dissemination of epithelioid malignant mesothelioma — A. Billè, M. Platania, et al. (2014)
• Tongue metastasis from a malignant diffuse mesothelioma of the pleura: report of a case — A. Piattelli, M. Fioroni, et al. (1999)
• Floor of mouth and tongue metastasis from malignant pleural mesothelioma — D. Kirke, K. Horwood, et al. (2010)
• Peritoneal mesothelioma metastasis to the tongue - Comparison with 8 pleural mesothelioma reports with tongue metastases — M.V. Vazquez, S. Selvendran, et al. (2016)
• A Case of Localized Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma With Lung Cancer Detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT — S. Kobayashi Shimizu, T. Okamura, et al. (2020)
• A case of primary pericardial mesothelioma detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT — F. Aga, Y. Yamamoto, et al. (2012)

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