A left pleural effusion with a calcified tumoral mass and left hemithoracic uptake on bone scan

Diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare primary tumor of the pleur a with three principal histological types, epithelial; mesenchymal and mixe d epithelial and mesenchymal. We report here a case of a mesenchymal mesoth elioma with foci of osteosarcomatous degeneration revealed by dense calcifi cations associated with the pleural effusion on the computed tomography (CT ) of the thorax. The bone scan revealed extraosseous uptake corresponding t o the left pleura. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserv ed.