NIH Publication - Mesothelioma and Japan

The following abstract about a  mesothelioma study in Japan was first published at PubMed by the NIH.

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma with incomplete endocardial cushion defect; report of a case

Okamoto T, Doi H, Yasuike J, Naitou K, Miyatake T, Sugiki K, Ohno T.
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardio-vascular Center Hokkaido Ohno Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
Kyobu Geka. 2004 Dec;57(13):1233-5.

Primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma is rare tumor and its prognosis is quite poor due to its late presentation and difficulty of complete resection.

We describe a rare case of primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma in a 46-year-old female with incomplete endocardial cushion defect (ECD). Incidentally, we found 2 masses in the pericardial spaces after pericardiectomy. We have successfully removed these 2 masses en bloc and performed a total repair of incomplete ECD. Pathologically, these masses were a primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma.

This patient is doing well 4 months after surgery without any evidence of recurrence despite reported poor prognosis of "primary pericardial malignant mesothelioma".

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