Association between malignant tumors of the lungs and pleurae and asbestosis. A retrospective study.

In this retrospective study, we reconsidered 221 cases of malignant tumors of lungs and pleurae among the admissions to the Diyarbakir Chest Hospital, Diyarbakir, Turkey, between 1968 and 1976 (inclusive). There were 44 patients with pleural tumors and 177 patients with tumors of the lung (patients of both sexes and of different age groups). Including all of the ten cities of southeast Turkey (with a population of 3,293,649), minimal rates of 1.33/100,000 for pleural neoplasms and 5.37/ 100,000 for pulmonary neoplasms were found. These figures were then compared with those for the metropolitan area of Oiyarbakir, Turkey, and its surrounding villages, where minimum rates were 3.22/100,000 for