F-18 FDG PET/CT images of a rare primer cardiac tumour: Primary Pericardial Mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of F-18 FDG PET/CT images of a rare primer cardiac tumour: Primary Pericardial Mesothelioma, by İ. Ak Sivrikoz, H. Önner, E. Kasapoğlu Dündar, et al (Anatolian Journal of Cardiology, 2016).

The study

• Authors: İ. Ak Sivrikoz, H. Önner, E. Kasapoğlu Dündar, Y. Çavuşoğlu, S. Dernek
• Journal: Anatolian Journal of Cardiology
• Published: 2016;16(8):635-6
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This article is a case report from Eskişehir Osmangazi University in Turkey. It describes one patient with primary pericardial mesothelioma, a cancer of the sac around the heart, and the images from the patient's F-18 FDG PET/CT scan. A 54-year-old man came to the hospital after 4 months of intermittent shortness of breath. Echocardiography and a CT scan showed fluid around the heart (up to 14 mm) and in both pleural spaces, but they did not give a definite diagnosis. The PET/CT scan showed diffuse, intense tracer uptake (SUVmax 7.5) in the thickened pericardium and no abnormal uptake elsewhere in the body, so a primary pericardial tumour was suspected. The report states the patient had no apparent history of occupational exposure to asbestos. As his condition worsened, surgeons removed the thickened pericardium. Pathology showed epithelial type primary pericardial mesothelioma. He received palliative treatment and died 2 months after surgery. The authors concluded that F-18 FDG PET is useful for assessing pericardial metabolic activity when looking for the cause of constrictive pericardial disease.

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), focused on PET/CT imaging
• Who was studied: one 54-year-old man treated at Eskişehir Osmangazi University hospital, Turkey, with a 4-month history of intermittent shortness of breath
• Exposure: The report states the patient had no apparent history of occupational exposure to asbestos; no fiber type or exposure details are given
• Main results:
  • CT of the thorax in this patient showed fluid collections within the pericardial sleeves (up to 14 mm) and both pleural spaces; CT and echocardiography did not give a definitive diagnosis
  • F-18 FDG PET/CT in this patient showed diffuse intense FDG uptake (SUVmax 7.5) in the thickened pericardium
  • No abnormal FDG uptake was seen elsewhere in the patient's body, so a primary pericardial tumour was suspected
  • The patient's condition worsened and surgical pericardiectomy under cardiopulmonary bypass was performed
  • Pathological examination of the removed pericardium showed epithelial type primary pericardial mesothelioma
  • The patient received palliative treatment and died 2 months after surgery
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that F-18 FDG PET is useful for evaluating pericardial metabolic activity when assessing the cause of constrictive pericardial disease, and that exact diagnosis requires histopathology

Topics

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

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

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