Cystic peritoneal mesothelioma: report of a case.

Peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare disease, especially when it arises in a cystic form with tardive and often nonspecific symptoms. While diffuse neoplasms have an unfavorable prognosis, cystic forms are usually benign. An accurate diagnosis can only be made only with electron microscopy and immunohistochemical studies. A 92-year-old woman with an ultrastructurally ascertained cystic peritoneal mesothelioma was admitted to the hospital's emergency ward, and was considered to be unusual because of the size of the mass and the patient's age. A review of the literature is made, and the clinical and diagnostic aspects of this disease are also discussed.

Benign cystic mesothelioma in a male patient: surgical treatment by the laparoscopic route.

We report a case of a benign cystic mesothelioma in a 44-year-old man. The patient was asymptomatic, and the cystic formation was discovered by chance in the course of ultrasonography for urological disorders. Benign cystic mesothelioma is a rare pathology, and only 19 cases have been described in male patients. The differential diagnosis versus other cystic diseases can only be defined histologically and is of critical importance to clinical management. Surgery is mandatory for both diagnosis and treatment. In the case reported here, a minimally invasive laparoscopic approach allowed not only histological diagnosis of benign cystic mesothelioma, but also its surgical treatment by the same route.