%0 Journal Article
%T Peritoneal mesothelioma in a woman who has survived for seven years: a case report
%A Krishna Pillai
%A Javed Akhter
%A Mohammad H Pourgholami
%A David L Morris
%J Journal of Medical Case Reports
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1752-1947-5-36
%X We report the case of a 48-year-old Caucasian woman who is alive and disease-free seven years after the initial diagnosis and treatment of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.This patient's long survival may be attributable to a combination of factors, including minimal disease, complete cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy plus the estrogen receptor ¦Â positivity of the tumor.Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare but fatal disease; the incidence is approximately one per million, and peritoneal mesothelioma accounts for about 20% to 30% of all cases of mesothelioma [1]. Although asbestos has been implicated as the main carcinogen [2,3], other factors such as radiation, peritonitis and SV40 have all been implicated [4].Peritoneal mesothelioma progresses with unspecific symptoms, and when presented, it is commonly in the form of increased abdominal girth, pain and weight loss; hence, diagnosis is late, with a poor prognosis. A number of therapeutic regimens have been used to improve prognosis [5], and currently debulking surgery is followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). This has led to marked improvement in patients who were once classified as preterminal [6]. The current median survival is around 10 months, and relative five-year survival is in approximately 16% [7]. Hence, more information on the disease and more effective therapies are needed to improve prognosis.A Caucasian women, now aged 48 years, presented herself at the age of 40 years with abdominal pain (four to five days), a bad taste in her mouth and tiredness. She had epigastric discomfort caused by abdominal distension for the past four to five years and had multiple upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopic examinations. Her medical history involved obesity, treatment for a blocked salivary duct, hypertension, endometriosis, appendectomy, Bell's palsy and hormone replacement therapy. Recent laproscopic cholecystectomy showed areas of abnormality, and a b
%U http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/content/5/1/36