Ann Arbor case reports. II. Mesothelioma in an accountant

Our plain-English summary of Ann Arbor case reports. II. Mesothelioma in an accountant, by T.N. Markham, V.N. Dodson (Journal of Occupational Medicine., 1966).

The study

• Authors: T.N. Markham, V.N. Dodson
• Journal: Journal of Occupational Medicine.
• Published: 1966;8(3):138-9
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article is a case report of one man with mesothelioma, from the University of Michigan Institute of Industrial Health in Ann Arbor. The patient, described as an elderly male, had worked as an accountant in the Detroit area until retiring 8 years earlier, except for 6 years between 1917 and 1923 in the U.S. Army and as a supervisor on concrete road construction. After retiring he worked occasionally as a carpenter's helper, and 6 years earlier he spent one month helping to insulate a house with asbestos. The article did not name the type of asbestos. Questioning found no other contact with known lung irritants. He had been gassed with chlorine in World War I. A chest X-ray showed fluid around the left lung. A pleural biopsy was read as a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, but tissue removed at surgery showed mesothelioma. After surgery the lung re-expanded and he went home moderately improved. The authors placed the case's significance in this minimal exposure. They concluded that further investigation of the link between asbestos and mesothelioma was needed before firm conclusions could be drawn.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report (single patient)
• Who was studied: One elderly man who had worked as an accountant in the Detroit area until retiring 8 years before. He had served in the U.S. Army and supervised concrete road construction from 1917 to 1923. He was evaluated at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His age is not given in the surviving text.
• Exposure: One month, 6 years before, helping to insulate a house with asbestos while working occasionally as a carpenter's helper after retirement. The fiber type is not stated. He had also been gassed with chlorine during World War I.
• Main results:
  • Questioning found no other contact with known lung irritants or toxic materials.
  • A chest X-ray showed a left pleural effusion (fluid around the left lung).
  • A pleural biopsy was first read as a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.
  • Tissue removed at thoracotomy showed mesothelioma. The stated diagnosis was mesothelioma of the left lung and pleura, with essential hypertension.
  • After surgery the left lung re-expanded and the patient was discharged 1 month later, moderately improved.
  • The authors stated that the case's significance lay in the minimal exposure of 1 month to asbestos in a man with a histological diagnosis of mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the case raised the question of what should count as a significant exposure to asbestos. In their view, further investigation of the association between asbestos and mesothelioma was needed before any firm conclusions could be drawn.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis, Lung cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma.

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