Malignant spindle cell tumor of the pericardium. Evidence of sarcomatous mesothelioma with aberrant antigen expression.
A case of malignant spindle cell tumor occurring in the pericardium is presented. The tumor arose from the pericardium of a 51-year-old Japanese woman with no history of exposure to asbestos. The tumor extended into the pericardial and left pleural cavities. The primary and metastatic tumors consisted of fusiform cells with frequent mitoses. Ultrastructurally, the tumor cells possessed a discontinuous external lamina, cytoplasmic processes, microfilaments and desmosomal intercellular junctions. Immunohistochemical examination showed that most tumor cells were positive for Leu 7, and several for S-100 and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Unexpectedly, most of the tumor cells also expressed keratin. These findings favor a diagnosis of sarcomatous mesothelioma with aberrant antigenic expression or heterogeneous differentiation of neoplastic cells.
Fukuda
T
T
Second Department of Pathology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Japan.
Ishikawa
H
H
Ohnishi
Y
Y
Tachikawa
S
S
Oguma
F
F
Kasuya
S
S
Sakashita
I
I
D005260:Female; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008875:Middle Aged; D010496:Pericardium / Q000032:analysis / Q000473:pathology*