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Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine Mar 2023Exposure to asbestos can cause both benign and malignant, pulmonary and pleural diseases. In the current era of low asbestos exposure, it is critical to be aware of... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Exposure to asbestos can cause both benign and malignant, pulmonary and pleural diseases. In the current era of low asbestos exposure, it is critical to be aware of complications from asbestos exposure; as they often arise after decades of exposure, asbestos-related pulmonary complications include asbestosis, pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening, benign asbestos-related pleural effusions and malignant pleural mesothelioma.
RECENT FINDINGS
Multiple recent studies are featured in this review, including a study evaluating imaging characteristics of asbestos with other fibrotic lung diseases, a study that quantified pleural plaques on computed tomography imaging and its impact on pulmonary function, a study that examined the risk of lung cancer with pleural plaques among two large cohorts and a review of nonasbestos causes of malignant mesothelioma.
SUMMARY
Asbestos-related pulmonary and pleural diseases continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality. This review summarizes the current advances in this field and highlights areas that need additional research.
Topics: Humans; Mesothelioma; Asbestos; Pleural Diseases; Lung Diseases; Asbestosis; Pleural Effusion; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma, Malignant
PubMed: 36630203
DOI: 10.1097/MCP.0000000000000939 -
International Journal of Environmental... Dec 2019This review updates the scientific literature concerning asbestos and lung cancer, emphasizing cumulative exposure and synergism between asbestos exposure and tobacco... (Review)
Review
This review updates the scientific literature concerning asbestos and lung cancer, emphasizing cumulative exposure and synergism between asbestos exposure and tobacco smoke, and proposes an evidence-based and equitable approach to compensation for asbestos-related lung cancer cases. This update is based on several earlier reviews written by the second and third authors on asbestos and lung cancer since 1995. We reevaluated the peer-reviewed epidemiologic studies. In addition, selected in vivo and in vitro animal studies and molecular and cellular studies in humans were included. We conclude that the mechanism of lung cancer causation induced by the interdependent coaction of asbestos fibers and tobacco smoke at a biological level is a multistage stochastic process with both agents acting conjointly at all times. The new knowledge gained through this review provides the evidence for synergism between asbestos exposure and tobacco smoke in lung cancer causation at a biological level. The evaluated statistical data conform best to a multiplicative model for the interaction effects of asbestos and smoking on the lung cancer risk, with no requirement for asbestosis. Any asbestos exposure, even in a heavy smoker, contributes to causation. Based on this information, we propose criteria for the attribution of lung cancer to asbestos in smokers and non-smokers.
Topics: Animals; Asbestos; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma; Occupational Exposure; Tobacco Smoking
PubMed: 31905913
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17010258 -
Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia :... 2021Malignant mesotheliomas are rare types of cancers that affect the mesothelial surfaces, usually the pleura and peritoneum. They are associated with asbestos exposure,... (Review)
Review
Malignant mesotheliomas are rare types of cancers that affect the mesothelial surfaces, usually the pleura and peritoneum. They are associated with asbestos exposure, but due to a latency period of more than 30 years and difficult diagnosis, most cases are not detected until they reach advanced stages. Treatment options for this tumor type are very limited and survival ranges from 12 to 36 months. This review discusses the molecular physiopathology, current diagnosis, and latest therapeutic options for this disease.
Topics: Asbestos; Humans; Mesothelioma; Mesothelioma, Malignant; Pleura; Pleural Neoplasms
PubMed: 34909922
DOI: 10.36416/1806-3756/e20210129 -
Thoracic Surgery Clinics Nov 2020Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare, aggressive malignancy of the pleural lining associated with asbestos exposure in greater than 80% of cases. It is... (Review)
Review
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare, aggressive malignancy of the pleural lining associated with asbestos exposure in greater than 80% of cases. It is characterized by molecular heterogeneity both between patients and within individual tumors. Next-generation sequencing technology and novel computational techniques have resulted in a greater understanding of the epigenetic, genetic, and transcriptomic hallmarks of MPM. This article reviews these features and discusses the implications of advances in MPM molecular biology in clinical practice.
Topics: Asbestos; Computational Biology; Epigenesis, Genetic; Gene Expression; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Humans; Mesothelioma, Malignant; Pleural Neoplasms; Transcriptome
PubMed: 33012428
DOI: 10.1016/j.thorsurg.2020.08.005 -
The International Journal of... Jun 2020Knowledge of asbestos-related diseases has been accumulating for over one hundred years as the industrial value of asbestos was recognised for the strength of its fibres...
Knowledge of asbestos-related diseases has been accumulating for over one hundred years as the industrial value of asbestos was recognised for the strength of its fibres and their resistance to destruction, resulting in increasing production and use until the multiple health effects have become apparent. Deposition in the lung parenchyma results in an inflammatory/progressively fibrotic response, with impaired gas exchange and reduced lung compliance ('asbestosis'), causing progressive dyspnoea and respiratory failure for which only palliation is indicated, although anti-fibrotic agents used for idiopathic usual interstitial pneumonitis remain to be evaluated. Benign pleural effusion, diffuse pleural fibrosis (occasionally with associated rolled atelectasis) and pleural plaques are the non-malignant pleural diseases that result from fibres reaching the pleura. But the main issues that led to the ban on asbestos in industry are those of malignancy: lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma (MM) of the pleura and MM of the peritoneum. Bronchogenic carcinoma risk from asbestos exposure is dose-dependent and multiplies the risk attributable to tobacco smoking. The principles of treatment are as for all cases of lung cancer. Low-dose computed tomography screening of exposed people can detect early-stage, non-small cell cancers, with improved survival. The amphibole varieties of asbestos are much more potent causes of MM than chrysotile, and the risk increases exponentially for 40-50 years following first exposure. As MM is non-resectable and poorly responsive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, curative treatment is not possible and screening not justified.
Topics: Asbestos; Asbestosis; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma; Pleura
PubMed: 32553000
DOI: 10.5588/ijtld.19.0645 -
Cells Feb 2020The link between asbestos exposure and the onset of thoracic malignancies is well established. However epidemiological studies have provided evidences that asbestos may... (Review)
Review
The link between asbestos exposure and the onset of thoracic malignancies is well established. However epidemiological studies have provided evidences that asbestos may be also involved in the development of gastrointestinal tumors, including intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). In line with this observation, asbestos fibers have been detected in the liver of patients with ICC. Although the exact mechanism still remains unknown, the presence of asbestos fibers in the liver could be explained in the light of their translocation pathway following ingestion/inhalation. In the liver, thin and long asbestos fibers could remain trapped in the smaller bile ducts, particularly in the stem cell niche of the canals of Hering, and exerting their carcinogenic effect for a long time, thus inducing hepatic stem/progenitor cells (HpSCs) malignant transformation. In this scenario, chronic liver damage induced by asbestos fibers over the years could be seen as a classic model of stem cell-derived carcinogenesis, where HpSC malignant transformation represents the first step of this process. This phenomenon could explain the recent epidemiological findings, where asbestos exposure seems mainly involved in ICC, rather than extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, development.
Topics: Asbestos; Bile Duct Neoplasms; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Cholangiocarcinoma; Humans; Liver; Liver Neoplasms; Risk Factors; Stem Cell Niche; Stem Cells
PubMed: 32059499
DOI: 10.3390/cells9020421 -
La Medicina Del Lavoro Feb 2020«Reconstruction of the asbestos exposure in a textile company producing sewing threads through the use of an unusual information source».
UNLABELLED
«Reconstruction of the asbestos exposure in a textile company producing sewing threads through the use of an unusual information source».
BACKGROUND:
The Tuscan Regional Operating Center (ROC) of Malignant Mesotheliomas has identified a cluster of 11 cases of malignant mesothelioma occurred in a textile plant manufacturing sewing thread. Using the common research method, the ROC had not previously been able to identify the specific sources of asbestos exposure causing such a large cluster.
OBJECTIVES:
The ROC’s objective was to review all cases of the cluster and to better identify their occupational asbestos exposures.
METHODS:
The cases’ occupational histories of asbestos exposure have been reviewed, using information deriving from the annual reports sent to the Tuscany Region since 1988 by all the asbestos removal companies according to the Law no. 257/1992, article 9, and from interviews to former employees of the plant.
RESULTS:
The work cycle has been reconstructed and enriched with the new information about the asbestos presence and its uses in the plant. The eleven cases were all reclassified as “certainly occupational exposed” given that the new collected information depicted a widespread asbestos pollution of the workplace during the period of employment of all cases.
CONCLUSIONS:
Using different sources of information, in addition to those traditionally collected through questionnaires, to reconstruct past asbestos exposuresallowed us to clarify the existence of the cluster of mesothelioma cases and the highest level of occupational asbestos exposure was attributed to all cases with consequent activation of the medico-legal procedure.
Topics: Asbestos; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Pleural Neoplasms
PubMed: 32352426
DOI: 10.23749/mdl.v111i2.8837 -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2021Sailors have long been known to experience high rates of injury, disease, and premature death. Many studies have shown asbestos-related diseases among shipyard workers,... (Review)
Review
Sailors have long been known to experience high rates of injury, disease, and premature death. Many studies have shown asbestos-related diseases among shipyard workers, but few have examined the epidemiology of asbestos-related disease and death among asbestos-exposed sailors serving on ships at sea. Chrysotile and amphibole asbestos were used extensively in ship construction for insulation, joiner bulkhead systems, pipe coverings, boilers, machinery parts, bulkhead panels, and many other uses, and asbestos-containing ships are still in service. Sailors are at high risk of exposure to shipboard asbestos, because unlike shipyard workers and other occupationally exposed groups, sailors both work and live at their worksite, making asbestos standards and permissible exposure limits (PELs). based on an 8-h workday inadequate to protect their health elevated risks of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancers have been observed among sailors through epidemiologic studies. We review these studies here.
Topics: Asbestos; Asbestos, Serpentine; Humans; Mesothelioma; Military Personnel; Ships
PubMed: 34444165
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18168417 -
The Permanente Journal Dec 2020
Topics: Asbestos; Humans; Male; Prostatic Neoplasms
PubMed: 33635783
DOI: 10.7812/TPP/20.215.1 -
Journal of Occupational and... Oct 2023Asbestos is a mineral that is carcinogenic to humans. Its use has been banned in many occidental countries yet it is still produced in the United States, and materials... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Asbestos is a mineral that is carcinogenic to humans. Its use has been banned in many occidental countries yet it is still produced in the United States, and materials that contain asbestos remain in many occupational settings and indoor environments. Even though asbestos carcinogenicity is well known, there is scant literature on its specific effects regarding small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine SCLC risk among workers exposed to asbestos. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to identify studies which reported occupational exposure to asbestos and SCLC-related deaths and/or incidence. We identified seven case-control studies that included 3,231 SCLC cases; four studies reported smoking-adjusted risks. A significantly increased risk of SCLC (pooled OR 1.89; 95% CI, 1.25-2.86) was observed on pooling studies on men (six studies) that displayed moderate heterogeneity (I = 46.0%). Overall, our synthesis suggests that occupational exposure to asbestos significantly increases the risk of SCLC on men.
Topics: Male; Humans; United States; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma; Lung Neoplasms; Asbestos; Occupational Exposure; Carcinogens; Occupational Diseases
PubMed: 37405865
DOI: 10.1080/15459624.2023.2232421