title: The clinical and pathologic manifestations of iatrogenically produced mesothelium-rich fragments of operative debris.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This report describes the clinical manifestations that may be associated with the amalgams of mesothelium and other debris which can be created iatrogenically when body cavities are opened or otherwise physically disturbed.
  
  
  METHODS
  One autopsy and four surgical pathology cases are reviewed. Three of the studied patients had had recent cardiac surgery, one a laparotomy, and the fifth a thoracotomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The series of five patients in this report demonstrates a wide range of manifestations when these tissue and debris amalgams are created. If the fragments gain an ingress to the vasculature, they may embolize and cause infarcts; if the origin of the amalgams is unappreciated, they may be confused with neoplasms; in other circumstances, the amalgams may represent incidental accompaniments of surgical specimens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pathologists and clinicians should be aware of this recently described entity; only in the last couple of years has its pathogenesis been recognized. This report reviews an, until now, undescribed broad spectrum of clinical manifestations of these amalgams of iatrogenically created mesothelial and other operative debris.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Walley
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Veinot
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Courtice
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Venance
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004617:Embolism / Q000473:pathology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D007238:Infarction / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology*; D013908:Thoracotomy; D014781:Viscera / Q000098:blood supply