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Journal Articles on Mesothelioma: Cancer Information for Patients and Families

Archive for the 'Diagnosis & Differentiation' Category

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October 16th, 2008. Histologic assessment and prognostic factors of malignant pleural mesothelioma treated with extrapleural pneumonectomy

Postoperative treatment was associated with DSS and with recurrence-free survival. Our study confirms that in many cases, final histopathologic typing of MPM is influenced by complete surgical resection and that initial biopsy should be carefully weighed in the treatment stratification.

October 16th, 2008. A useful antibody panel for differential diagnosis between peritoneal mesothelioma and ovarian serous carcinoma in Japanese cases

The results identified calretinin and thrombomodulin as positive markers and Ber-EP4, MOC-31, CA19-9, and estrogen receptor as negative markers with relatively high sensitivity and specificity for the differential diagnosis of PM and SC. The combination of these positive and negative markers may contribute to accurate diagnosis and adequate therapy for PM and ovarian SC.

October 11th, 2008. Pulmonary epithelioid hemangioendothelioma mimicking mesothelioma

Mesothelioma markers were universally negative and cytokeratin was focally reactive only in some epithelioid cells. Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma is a rare tumor in the lung that can mimic other more common pathological entities, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of unusual pulmonary neoplasms with epithelioid or biphasic morphology.

October 7th, 2008. CK5/6 in effusions: no difference between mesothelioma and pulmonary and nonpulmonary adenocarcinoma

Conclusion: CK5/6 reactivity was found in a considerable proportion of metastatic adenocarcinomas of pulmonary and nonpulmonary origin. The high reactivity rate in pulmonary adenocarcinomas disagrees with the results obtained with histologic sections from solid tumor tissue, and CK5/6 seems to be of very limited value as an additional marker in effusion cytology.

October 7th, 2008. Functional inactivation of NF2/merlin in human mesothelioma

Our results support the hypothesis that the disruption of NF2 signalling is essential for the development of human mesothelioma. In tumors where no NF2 truncation can be detected, NF2 is rendered inactive by phosphorylation of Ser 518 and this can be explained at least in part by an increased expression of CPI-17.

October 4th, 2008. Expression of the embryonic lethal abnormal vision-like protein HuR in human mesothelioma

Conclusions: The current results suggested that HuR plays a role in tumor progression in mesothelioma and that COX-2 may be a target of its activity in neoplastic cells. Together, these observations indicate that strategies aiming toward the modulation of HuR may have a potential clinical benefit in mesothelioma.

October 3rd, 2008. Transesophageal Endoscopic Ultrasound with Fine Needle Aspiration in the Preoperative Staging of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Conclusions: EUS-FNA is feasible and sensitive for MLN staging in patients with MPM who are candidate for multimodality treatment. These data warrant further evaluation.

September 30th, 2008. Mesothelial reaction in longstanding Crohn’s ileitis simulating papillary mesothelioma

The peritoneal surface of the ileal resection specimen displayed exuberant tubulo-papillary formations of the mesothelium, with superficial invasion of the underlying stroma. The case demonstrates the well-recognised difficult differential diagnosis between a benign mesothelial proliferation and malignant mesothelioma in a novel clinical setting, and the diversity of the extramural manifestations of Crohn's disease.

September 23rd, 2008. The impact of lymph node station on survival in 348 patients with surgically resected malignant pleural mesothelioma: implications for revision of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system

Conclusion: This study confirms a preferential pattern of drainage of malignant pleural mesothelioma to N2 rather than N1 lymph nodes, but suggests that N1 only nodal involvement should be classified as lower stage disease. Multiple N2 nodal site involvement could potentially be classified as higher stage disease than single station N2. Our results emphasize the need for larger, confirmatory multicenter studies that could lead to revision of the current staging system.

September 19th, 2008. Comparative immunohistochemistry of L19 and F16 in non-small cell lung cancer and mesothelioma: Two human antibodies investigated in clinical trials in patients with cancer

In our analysis, the anti-tenascin F16 antibody was found to generally exhibit a stronger staining of desmoplastic stroma surrounding tumor. This superior performance was found to be particularly striking in the case of low-grade non-small cell lung cancer.

September 19th, 2008. Preoperative staging of mesothelioma by 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography fused imaging and mediastinoscopy compared to pathological findings after extrapleural pneumonectomy

Conclusions: Non-curative surgery is avoided in 29% out of 42 MPM patients by preoperative PET/CT and in further 14% by mediastinoscopy. Even though both procedures are valuable, there are false negative findings with both, urging for even more accurate staging procedures.

September 18th, 2008. Multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma is an uncommon lesion that is most often discovered incidentally

Abstract Symptoms are unusual. The lesion is benign with a favourable prognosis but local recurrence is reported not to be rare, and in a few cases malignant transformation has been described.

September 17th, 2008. Peritoneal Mesotheliomas: Clinicopathologic Features, CT Findings, and Differential Diagnosis

Conclusion: The clinicopathologic features of peritoneal mesotheliomas vary among the subtypes such as malignant mesotheliomas, cystic mesotheliomas, and well-differentiated papillary mesotheliomas, and accordingly, there is a spectrum of CT appearances.

September 17th, 2008. Metastasis of Malignant Peritoneal Epithelioid Mesothelioma in Endoscopic Gastric Biopsy: A Diagnostic Pitfall

Conclusions: Metastases of malignant peritoneal mesotheliomas are unusual, and a predominantly gastrointestinal localization is rare. Pathologists should be aware of this possibility to avoid misdiagnosis, particularly in small biopsy specimens.

September 16th, 2008. Computed Tomography, Positron Emission Tomography, Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Staging of Limited Pleural Mesothelioma: Initial Results

Conclusion: PET/CT makes it possible to stage patients with limited MPM with high accuracy and low interobserver variability.

September 13th, 2008. Pathology of Primary Tumours of the Pleura

Besides other rare primary tumours of the pleura, the differential diagnoses of malignant mesotheliomas comprise carcinomatous pleuritis of intra- and extrapulmonary malignancies. Especially in early tumour stages, the differentiation from reactive pleural changes requires a close interdisciplinary cooperation with a careful correlation between histopathological findings and clinical presentation.

September 12th, 2008. Inguinal lymph node as the only evidence of progressive lung cancer

The primary tumours of these cases were malignant mesothelioma, salivary duct and breast carcinoma. In this paper, we report a case of carcinoma of the lung metastatic to an inguinal lymph node as the only evidence of progressive lung cancer.

September 9th, 2008. Clinical consequences of asbestos-related diffuse pleural thickening: A review

It causes a restrictive defect on lung function and may rarely result in respiratory failure and death. Treatment is primarily supportive.

September 6th, 2008. Prevention of malignant seeding at drain sites after invasive procedures (surgery and/or thoracoscopy) by hypofractionated radiotherapy in patients with pleural mesothelioma

Discussion: The present study shows the efficacy and safety of local radiotherapy in preventing malignant seeding after thoracoscopy in patients with pleural mesothelioma although larger prospective trials are probably still needed to validate this treatment approach.

September 2nd, 2008. Diagnosis, Staging, and Surgical Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

The primary goal of surgery in this setting is the resection of all gross disease. The choice of operation, extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) or pleurectomy/decortication (P/D), depends on disease stage, pulmonary function, philosophy of the treating physician, and type of planned adjuvant therapy.