Histopathological evaluation of metastatic tumors of the pleura

Abstract

The pleura is a thin, bilayer serous membrane that covers the lung and inner surface of the chest cavity. Pleural involvement can be seen in all types of cancer with the possibility of metastasis. The presence of malignant cells in the pleural fluid and/or pleural tissue confirms the presence of disseminated or advanced cancer and is associated with a lower life expectancy. In this study, 214 patients diagnosed with non-primary malignancy from the biopsy and cytology materials of pleural tissue and pleural effusion fluid, which were admitted to the pathology laboratory of our hospital between 2009 and 2021, were retrospectively analyzed. The cases were evaluated histopathologically and the frequency of metastatic malignant lesions of the pleura and their distribution according to age and gender were determined. 41.1% of the patients were female and 58.9% were male. The most common tumors that metastasize to the pleura are lung (56%), breast (8.8%), ovary (5.6%), stomach (3.7%), colon (3.7%), lymphoid tumors (3.7%), and kidney tumors (3.2%), respectively. As a histological type, the most common tumor metastasizing to the pleura was lung adenocarcinoma (43.9%), the second most common invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast (nonspecified invasive carcinoma) (8.7%), and the third most common lung-derived squamous cell carcinoma (6.9%). In the current study, metastatic tumors of the pleura, diagnosed in our laboratory for 12 years, were reviewed and histopathologically analyzed. In the study, the most common tumors that metastasized to the pleura were lung tumors due to their close neighborhood. It was striking that tumors metastasizing to the pleura showed significant differences between male and female patients.