Abstract
Peritoneal mesothelioma is less common than pleural mesothelioma, and the former is a disease with a poor prognosis for which no treatment has been established. We herein report our experience with a patient with peritoneal mesothelioma who underwent surgery deu to ileus.
The patient was a 61-year-old man who had been exposed to asbestos 23 years earlier. When he visited our hospital with onset of abdominal pain, various tests revealed obstructive ileus of the transverse colon and a mass in the spleen. Without a definitive diagnosis, laparotomy was performed to release the ileus. The laparotomy revealed a mass formed by union of the transverse colon and a part of the small intestine which caused stricture. Moreovre, nodules were observed over the gastric wall and the greater omentum. Partial resection of the colon and the small intestine was performed. Pathological examination revealed hyperplasia of atypical cells throughout the colon, small intestine, gastric wall, and greater omentum. Peritoneal mesothelioma was diagnosed based on positive immunostaining for calretinin and negative staining for carcinoembryonic antigen, etc.
For peritoneal mesothelioma, radical surgery is difficult to perform, and chemotherapy is often administered. However, there is no established treatment, and the prognosis is poor. As mesothelioma incidence is expected to increase in the future, immediate accumulation of cases and studies on multidisciplinary treatment are needed.
