Echocardiographic findings of pericardial involvement in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma with a history of environmental exposure to asbestos and erionite

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the pericardial involvement in patients with malignant mesothelioma caused by exposure to different minerals. METHODOLOGY: Forty-two patients (mean age of 52 +/- 12 years) with malignant mesothelioma were examined with transthoracic echocardiography. Thirty-three (78.9%) patients had a history of environmental exposure to asbestos and nine (21.4%) had a history of environmental exposure to erionite. RESULTS: In 19 (45.2%) patients with malignant pericardial mesothelioma, pericardial involvement was determined by echocardiography. The other 23 (54.8%) patients had no pericardial involvement. Pericardial effusion was detected in nine (64.3%) patients and pericardial effusion was small in six (14.3%) patients, moderate in one (2.4%) patient and large in two patients. Thickening of the pericardium was observed in eight (19%) patients. In another two (7.1%) patients pericardial calcification was observed. Among the 33 patients who had been exposed to asbestos, 15 (45.5%) had pericardial involvement, and among the nine patients with a history of exposure to erionite, four (44.4%) had pericardial involvement. There was no difference in terms of pericardial involvement in different stages of the tumour (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pericardial involvement is commonly seen in patients with malignant mesothelioma. Among patients exposed to asbestos or zeolite there was no difference in terms of pericardial involvement. Furthermore, pericardial involvement was not related with the stage of the tumour.