A Case of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma with Metastasis to the Orbit

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A 58-year-old woman with malignant mesothelioma metastatic to the orbit is reported. Malig-. nant pleural mesothelioma was diagnosed by pleural biopsy. …

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A Case of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma with Metastasis to the Orbit
Kaoru Kubota1, Kiyoyuki Furuse1, Masaaki Kawahara1, Mitsumasa Ogawara1, Sinei Ryu3 and
Satoru Yamamoto2
Departments of internal Medicine and 2Pathology, National Kinki Central Hospital for Chest Diseases, Sakai,
Osaka, ‘Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Prefectural Habikino Hospital, Habikino, Osaka
A 58-year-old woman with malignant mesothelioma metastatic to the orbit is reported. Malignant
pleural mesothelioma was diagnosed by pleural biopsy. Marked reduction of pleural effusion
was obtained with intrapleural interleukin-2 therapy. Systemic chemotherapy failed to elicit
a response after the first recurrence of the tumor. Multiple systemic metastasis, including
metastasis to the orbit, developed and the patient died one year and 4 months after the initial
diagnosis. Although malignant mesothelioma is known to spread hematogenously, sometimes
producing brain metastasis, there have been few reports of orbital metastasis, and in fact the
present report may be the first clinically documented account of its kind.
(Jpn J Clin Oncol 26: 469-471, 1996)
Key words: Malignant mesothelioma-Orbital metastasis-Distant metastasis
Introduction
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an uncommon,
but increasingly recognized, malignant neoplasm of
the pleura.1-2) It has been reported that exposure
to asbestos is the…