Malignant Deciduoid Mesothelioma: A Diagnostic Challenge

Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine 129, no. 3 (2005): 403–406. Article

Najat Mourra, MD; Cecile de Chaisemartin, MD; Isabelle Goubin-Versini, MD; Rolland Parc, MD; Jean-Francois Flejou, MD

From the Departments of Pathology (Drs Mourra and Flejou) and Surgery (Drs Chaisemartin and Parc), Hôpital St-Antoine, Paris, France; and Department of Pathology, Hôpital Rene Dubois, Pontoise, France (Dr Goubin-Versini)

Abstract

Malignant deciduoid mesothelioma, a rare phenotype of epithelioid mesothelioma, arises more commonly from the peritoneum of young women, but it is also reported in the pleura of elderly people. We report a case of malignant deciduoid mesothelioma that occurred in a 41-year-old woman after cesarean section and was initially misdiagnosed as pseudotumoral deciduosis. Microscopically, the tumor was entirely composed of deciduoid areas, and only scattered tumor cells were positive for calretinin and keratin 5/6. The patient died 14 months after the first operation. This observation confirms the poor prognosis of this entity and the importance of the differential diagnosis of pseudotumoral deciduosis.