Pericardial Mesothelioma after Exposure to Asbestos: [Letter]

Abstract

[...]Churg and Warnock have reported a case of malignant mesothelioma of the pericardium arising after direct application of asbestos and fiberglass to the pericardium.2 The tumor was diagnosed 15 years after the epicardial surface had been dusted with 300 mg of asbestos in an attempt to improve cardiac circulation in a patient with angina pectoris. Another report, which appeared after Amman's review, described a primary pericardial mesothelioma that occurred in a 60-year-old man 30 years after he had been exposed to asbestos at a shipyard during World War II.3 In both cases, amphibolic asbestos fibers were identified in tissues by means of electron diffraction and energy-dispersive x-ray analytic techniques.