The occurrence of a primary mesothelioma of the pleura in a child 19 months of age has prompted us to review the literature briefly and to present a clinical and postmortem report on this single patient.
In 1870, Wagner1 first described a tubercle-like lymphadenoma of the pleura which Schulz2 later reexamined and described as endothelial carcinoma. Since that time, at least 250 case reports have appeared in the literature. Klemperer and Rabin3 in a review of mesothelial tumors found more than thirty different names for this type of tumor. Most European authors referred to the neoplasm as "celothelioma," while Ewing4 classified it as endothelioma, Yater5 as endothelial carcinoma and Geschickter6 as mesothelioma.
As has been pointed out elsewhere,7 the splanchnocele of the embryo gives rise to the serous cavities (pleural, pericardial and peritoneal), which are lined with persisting celomic epithelium or mesothelium. Splanchnocelic