Mesothelioma (Endothelioma) of the Peritoneum

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma (Endothelioma) of the Peritoneum, by T.L. Ramsey, B. Chomet (1941).

The study

• Authors: T.L. Ramsey, B. Chomet
• Published: Archives of Pathology p292-298 (1941)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article reported a single case of mesothelioma of the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen), which the authors also called endothelioma. The patient was a 62-year-old white woman admitted to the hospital on October 2, 1940. The patient had been ill for about eight weeks with nausea, vomiting, weakness and pain in the right lower abdomen, and died on November 20, 1940. At autopsy there were 6 liters of fluid in the abdominal cavity. The lining over the lower intestines and the mesentery was thickened, rough and nodular, and this was marked in the pelvis. Under the microscope, the authors saw a transition from normal lining cells on the ovary to tumor cells. They also found two types of supporting tissue in the tumor, and stains for mucin were negative. A careful search found no other tumor in the body. The authors concluded that the tumor was a true primary growth arising from the lining cells of the peritoneum. The article did not mention asbestos or the patient's work history.

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 autopsy case)
• Who was studied: one 62-year-old white woman, admitted October 2, 1940; the authors were at the Department of Pathology of St. Vincent's Hospital
• Main results:
  • The patient died on November 20, 1940, after myocardial failure developed
  • At autopsy there were 6 liters of slightly turbid yellowish fluid in the peritoneal cavity
  • The serosa over the lower intestines, including the mesentery, was thickened, rough and nodular
  • Sections from the growth over the ovary showed a transition from normal ovarian serosal cells to neoplastic cells
  • Two types of stroma (supporting connective tissue) were seen in the larger nodular areas
  • Mucin stains of the tumor tissue were negative
  • No other tumor was found in the body
• The authors' conclusion: The authors believed the case represented a true primary neoplasm arising from the serosal cells of the peritoneum

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Peritoneum, Autopsy, Mesentery, Occupational History.

Browse return to medical research.