Asbestos-related benign disease and cancer: symptoms and treatment

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related benign disease and cancer: symptoms and treatment, by U.F. Gruber (Anti-cancer Drugs, 1990).

The study

• Author: U.F. Gruber
• Journal: Anti-cancer Drugs
• Published: 1990;1(2):187-97
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Long lasting occupational exposure to asbestos dust may cause skin corns, benign pleural effusion, hyaline plaques of the parietal pleura, diffuse thickening of the pulmonary pleura, and asbestosis, i.e. diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Malignant disorders include lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura, peritoneum and pericardium. In general, many years elapse from first exposure to the appearance of symptoms. Almost all these diseases are the result of dusty working conditions more than 20 years ago. In spite of the fact that the general public is invariably exposed to small amounts of the material, asbestos is not a public health problem. Even living in a building containing sprayed asbestos is calculated to produce a lifetime risk of death which is negligible. There is no evidence to indicate that ingested asbestos fibres represent a major health problem.

In plain English

This 1990 article is a narrative review by a single author covering the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of diseases linked to asbestos. It reports no new data. Its figures come from other studies and reviews. The author described benign conditions (skin corns, benign pleural effusion, pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening and asbestosis) and cancers (lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura, peritoneum and pericardium). The author wrote that pleural plaques alone cause no symptoms, while diffuse pleural thickening has an adverse effect on lung function. For lung cancer, the article gave an average latency of around 20 years and said such cancers are extremely rare in asbestos workers who do not smoke. For mesothelioma, it gave an average latency of 30 years, plus or minus 10, and said most patients survive less than one year after diagnosis. Citing other reviews, the author reported no support for a causal link with laryngeal cancer. The author concluded that occupational mesotheliomas are mainly, if not exclusively, due to amphiboles rather than chrysotile, and that asbestos is not a public health problem for the general public.

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: narrative review (single author) of published literature; no original data
• Who was studied: no study population; the article reviews published literature and other reviews on asbestos-related benign diseases and cancers
• Exposure: mainly long-lasting occupational exposure to asbestos dust; the article distinguishes chrysotile from amphiboles (including crocidolite, tremolite and anthophyllite) and also discusses environmental, building and drinking-water exposure
• Main results:
  • According to the author, pleural plaques alone, whether calcified or not, cause no symptoms and do not hinder normal breathing movement
  • The author stated that diffuse pleural thickening, unlike plaques, has been shown to have an adverse effect on lung function
  • In men heavily exposed to asbestos and followed up for more than 15 years, the author stated about 20% will develop diffuse pleural thickening, with or without lung tissue abnormality
  • For benign pleural effusion, the author reported that about 30% of cases recur
  • The author gave the average latency for asbestos-related lung cancer, from onset of exposure to diagnosis, as around 20 years
  • The author stated that lung cancers among asbestos workers who do not smoke are extremely rare
  • The article stated that about 1500 cases of malignant mesothelioma are reported yearly in the United States, compared with approximately 130 000 lung cancer cases per year
  • The author stated it is estimated that about 80% of all diffuse malignant mesotheliomas occur in men exposed to asbestos in the workplace
  • The average latency between first asbestos exposure and diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma was given as 30 years, plus or minus 10
  • The author stated that most patients with malignant mesothelioma survive for less than one year after diagnosis
  • Citing reviews by Chan and Gee and by Edelman, the author stated that critically examined studies give no support for a specific causal relationship between asbestos exposure and laryngeal cancer
  • Citing a review by MacRae, the author stated that epidemiological data provide no evidence of a specific relationship between ingested asbestos and gastrointestinal malignancy
  • The author stated that evidence is accumulating that occupationally caused mesotheliomas are mainly, if not exclusively, due to amphiboles and not to chrysotile
  • The author stated that asbestos fiber content in the air of buildings containing sprayed asbestos is in most instances harmlessly small and essentially the same as outdoor air
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, although the general public is exposed to small amounts of asbestos, asbestos is not a public health problem. The author also concluded that the different types of asbestos should always be distinguished, because amphiboles appear more harmful than chrysotile.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Occupational Exposure, Pleural Effusion, Parietal Pleura, Pleura, Interstitial, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Anxious and depressive symptoms in the French Asbestos-Related Diseases Cohort: risk factors and self-perception of risk — I. Mounchetrou Njoya, C. Paris, et al. (2017)
• High-resolution CT of benign asbestos-related diseases: clinical and radiographic correlation — D.R. Aberle, G. Gamsu, et al. (1988)
• Clinical value of fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography in differentiation of malignant mesothelioma from asbestos-related benign pleural disease: an observational pilot study — H. Yildirim, M. Metintas, et al. (2009)
• Asbestos-related benign pleural disease — C. Peacock, S.J. Copley, et al. (2000)
• Biological responses to asbestos inhalation and pathogenesis of asbestos-related benign and malignant disease — E. Solbes, R.W. Harper (2018)
• Gallium scanning in differentiating malignant from benign asbestos-related pleural disease — A.S. Teirstein, P. Chahinian, et al. (1986)

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