Multi-cystic Mesothelioma of the Peritoneum - Examinaton of the Pelvis, Abdominal Mass using Ultrasound, Process of Hysterectomy by a Gynecologist

(August 5th, 2009)

During a pelvic examination conducted on a 44 year old woman in the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, an abdominal mass was detected. An abdominal mass is any localized swelling or enlargement of cells/tumors in the human abdomen. Abdominal mass can also lead to peritoneal mesothelioma, which occurs when the abdominal lining of the abdomen becomes cancerous or malignant and could develop into a full mesothelioma tumor. A pelvic examination is meant to study the vulva (external genitalia), vagina, cervix, uterus, and ovaries of a woman to find any abnormal swellings/tumors. A pelvic ultrasound was conducted on the woman’s ovaries and pictures of the woman’s ovaries were taken by exposing part of the body to high-frequency sound waves.

The ultrasound revealed a complex multiseptate cystic abdominal mass developing in the uterus that measured 15 by 9 by 7cm. The image above on the left shows mixed and solid complex multi-locular cystic masses that have varying fine partitions of cavities (shown by the arrows). The woman underwent an abdominal hysterectomy that detected irregular multi-locular cystic mass attached to the uterine fundus. An abdominal hysterectomy is a procedure where a woman’s cervix of the uterus may be removed by a gynecologist that specializes in these cases.

The image on the right shows a photograph of hysterectomy being conducted in the Uterus and the point called M shows irregular, multilocular cystic mass while the point called U is the uterus fundus. Further examinations done via the hysterectomy inspection revealed mesothelium-lined cysts surrounded by a fibrovascularStroma around the area labelled M, which shows signs of multi-cystic mesothelioma of the Peritoneum (abdomen).

So how dangerous is multi-cystic mesothelioma? Multi-cystic mesothelioma is considered an intermediate form of mesothelioma and its severity is greater than that of other localized tumors but less severe than other types of mesothelioma including mesothelioma of the epithelial cells (epithelial mesothelioma). Studies show that multi-cystic mesothelioma occurs most frequently in women (84%) with a mean age of 37 years. Tumors of multi-cystic mesothelioma most frequently affect the bladder and rectum and uterus. The most common symptoms of this tumor include abdominal pain (almost half of patients diagnosed with multi-cystic mesothelioma have this symptom) and abdominal mass (about 29% of patients portray this symptom).