A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and type of respiratory conditions including asbestos-related diseases among Malaysian asbestos cement workers. The study population consisted of 1164 workers who had undergone medical surveillance from 1995 to 1997, including full history, physical examination, chest radiography and spirometry. More than half the male workers we...

With the adoption and publication of a consensus document entitled ‘‘Diagnosis and Initial Management of Nonmalignant Diseases Related to Asbestos’’ (Am J Respir Crit Care Med, Vol 170, pp 691–715, 2004) the American Thoracic Society moved the care of patients diagnosed with an asbestos-related lung disease from a no-man’s land of therapeutic nihilism to the possibility of clinical and function...

Computed tomography (CT; both conventional (CCT) and high resolution (HRCT)) scans of the thorax were evaluated to detect early asbestosis in 61 subjects exposed to asbestos dust in Québec for an average of 22(3) years and in five controls. The study was limited to consecutive cases with chest radiographs of the International Labour Organisation categories 0 or 1 determined independently. All s...

MCDONALD and MCDONALD [1] present a version of the history of mesothelioma that for the sake of scholarship requires amendment. The references to the growth of knowledge of an association between mesothelioma and asbestos exposure are at variance with plain reading of the publications they cited. For example, GLOYNE [2] stated that he considered it worthwhile recording his two cases of squamous...

Regional lung function was measured using radioactive xenon-133 in a group of normal subjects and in two groups of asbestos workers. When compared with the normal group, patients with pulmonary asbestosis showed impaired ventilation of the lower zones. Subjects with calcified pleural plaques without radiological evidence of lung parenchymal fibrosis did not show this abnormality.

Asbestos associated diseases consist of both benign and malignant conditions. A rare constellation of asbestosis, laryngeal carcinoma, and malignant peritoneal mesothelioma occurring in a patient with long term occupational exposure to airborne asbestos fibres is presented. The observation illustrates the powerful disease-causing potential of occupational exposure to asbestos. A brief discussio...

It is suggested that the ratio of asbestos bodies observable by light microscopy to asbestos fibers counted by electron microscopy be examined in a series of cases of asbestosis of varying severity. If the ratio is reasonably constant an estimate of fiber content could be made from the more easily conducted count of asbestos bodies by light microscopy.

This chapter consists of a review of the literature regarding radiographic and tomographic characteristics of the principal occupational respiratory diseases (silicosis and asbestosis). Special attention is given to the practical relevance of high-resolution computed tomography, which is the most sensitive and specific method of identifying and quantifying the extent of pleural and parenchymal ...

There is abundant epidemiologic evidence that asbestos fibers can cause lung fibrosis (asbestosis), bronchial cancer, and mesothelioma in humans, as well as limited evidence for such effects in workers exposed to slag and rockwool fibers. Epidemiological evidence for human disease from inhalation exposures to conventional fibrous glass is negative. While health concerns based on the morphologic...