Localised malignant pleural mesothelioma mimicking a pseudo-tumour in a HIV-positive patient: a rare case report

Abstract

Localised malignant mesothelioma (LMM) is an extremely rare malignancy of the pleura. Very few case reports have been published and its classification and characteristics are not well established owing to the rarity of its occurrence. LMM was defined as a distinct disease entity among pleural tumours by the WHO in 2004 Travis et al., 2004. We present a young HIV-positive male, who presented with a mass in the lower lobe of the left lung suspected pre-operatively to be inflammatory a pseudo-tumour. Complete surgical resection of the mass was done and biopsy and immunohistochemistry revealed it to be LMM. We try to highlight the rare occurrence of LMM in a young, immunocompromised patient with no history of exposure to asbestos or irradiation.