Abstract

BACKGROUND: Omental calcifications of the peritoneum are typically small and asymptomatic. However, larger psammomatous bodies that cause symptoms such as abdominal pain and bloating are often associated with tumors such as primary serous papillary carcinoma, mesothelioma, or metastatic ovarian cancer.

CASE REPORT: We describe omental calcifications in a 68-year-old woman who had been asymptomatic for the last 10 years. The case details the histomorphologic features and immunohistochemical signature of a 4.0×3.5×1.0 cm mass consisting of mature adipose tissue that was surgically removed together with an 8.5×6.5×1.8 cm irregular intra-abdominal/mesenteric mass composed of yellow-red fatty tissue. Microscopic sections contained fat with variable clustered classic/psammomatous calcifications, some with a thin epithelioid periphery, in association with a very focal and subtle papillary surface epithelial/mesothelial proliferation. Tumor cell invasion was not observed during examination. Immunohistochemical staining showed that mesothelial cells in the mass were strongly positive for calretinin and focally positive for EMA, CK903, and vimentin. Strong nuclear positivity for PAX8 was also reported. Additional stains were added in response to this pattern, showing strong positivity for CK8, moderate positivity for BAP1, focal positivity for ER, minimal positivity for CD56, and negativity for CK5/6 and D2-40. Three possible explanations are suggested for the phenomenon observed in the pathology slides: reactive mesothelial hyperplasia, well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma, or serous papillary carcinoma of the peritoneum.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that these calcifications are a benign, reactive phenomenon, and that the abundance of psammoma bodies may be related to ongoing crops of papillary mesothelial hyperplasia or benign well-differentiated papillary mesothelioma.

Keywords: Calcification, Physiologic, Carcinoma, Papillary, Hyperplasia, Immunohistochemistry, Neoplasms, Mesothelial, Omentum, Aged, Biomarkers, Tumor, Calcinosis, Cystadenocarcinoma, Papillary, Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous, Diagnosis, Differential, Mesothelioma, Peritoneal Neoplasms