Mammary Carcinoma Followed After Twenty-Eight Years by Primary Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Abstract

Carcinoma of the breast in childhood is exceedingly rare. Numerous relatively recent reviews^1-6 of malignant tumors in children do not mention it, although several case reports of mammary carcinoma in children appeared in the medical literature between 1897 and 1926.^7-10 However, the reports that contained illustrations or detailed descriptions of the histologic appearance of the tumors concerned children 12 years of age or older. Primary malignant pleural mesothelioma is also rare, being considerably less common than the localized benign variety.^11-15 The varied histologic pattern in many malignant pleural tumors reported in the earlier medical literature led Robertson¹⁵ to conclude reasonably that many of them were actually metastatic carcinomas rather than primary pleural tumors. Nevertheless, occasional well-documented primary malignant pleural mesotheliomas have been reported.^12,14 The patient herein reported on is of particular interest because she had two different malignant neoplasms under unusual circumstances. An adenocarcinoma of