Asbestos, ergot drugs and the pleura

Asbestos, ergot drugs and the pleura.

In this issue of the Journal, two groups of researchers with established experience in asbestos-induced respiratory disease, independently report on patients with prior occupational exposure to asbestos, who developed exuda-tive pleural effusion and/or pleural thickening, while being treated with bromocriptine for Parkinson's disease [1, 2]. Ultimately, the pleural changes were largely reversib...

Diffuse Mesothelioma of the Pleura and Asbestos.

Drugs and the pleura.

PURPOSE To identify the drugs associated with pleural disease and to review the clinical, radiographic, and pleural fluid findings that occur, the natural history of the pleural reaction, and the response to therapy. DATA SOURCES English-language articles published from January 1966 through April 1998 were identified through searches of the MEDLINE database, selective bibliographies, and pers...

Exposure to Asbestos and Mesothelioma of the Pleura.

Two cases of mesothelioma were the subjects of fairly recent coroners' inquests. In neither instance was it accepted that the tumour was attributable to inhalation of asbestos fibre; yet in one case there was a known and severe occupational history of exposure to asbestos, while in both cases " asbestos bodies " were found in the lung. A point made at both inquests was the difficulty of attribu...

Asbestos-related diseases of the lungs and pleura: uses, trends and management over the last century.

Asbestos is a descriptive term for a group of naturally occurring minerals known to mankind since ancient times. The main types of asbestos (chrysotile, and the amphiboles crocidolite and amosite) differ in chemical structure, biopersistence in human tissue and toxicity. Commercial exploitation, with little thought for environmental controls, increased over the twentieth century, particularly a...