Asbestos-related benign pleural disease

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related benign pleural disease, by C. Peacock, S.J. Copley, D.M. Hansell (Clinical Radiology, 2000).

The study

• Authors: C. Peacock, S.J. Copley, D.M. Hansell
• Journal: Clinical Radiology
• Published: 2000;55(6):422-32
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 64 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Benign pleural disease is the commonest manifestation of asbestos exposure encountered by radiologists. Benign pleural thickening can appear as circumscribed parietal pleural plaques or as more diffuse thickening of the visceral pleura. Benign-asbestos induced pleural effusions are a significant and under-recognized manifestation of asbestos exposure with important sequelae, such as diffuse pleural thickening which may be associated with functional impairment and for which compensation may be sought. This review concentrates on the strengths and weaknesses of chest radiography and computed tomography for the detection and characterization of benign asbestos-related pleural disease and the relevance of imaging abnormalities to compensation and functional impairment.Peacock, C. (2000). Clinical Radiology55, 422-432.

Copyright 2000 The Royal College of Radiologists.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. Three authors from the radiology department of the Royal Brompton Hospital in London reviewed published research on benign (non-cancerous) pleural disease caused by asbestos. They focused on how well chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) detect and characterize pleural plaques, benign asbestos pleural effusion, diffuse pleural thickening and folded lung. Drawing on earlier studies, the authors stated that CT was more sensitive than chest radiography for detecting both pleural plaques and diffuse pleural thickening. They stated that pleural plaques are not usually associated with impaired lung function and are not a prescribed disease for compensation in the U.K., whereas bilateral diffuse pleural thickening became one in 1985. The authors concluded that benign pleural effusion is the earliest manifestation of asbestos exposure, that diffuse pleural thickening follows it, and that diffuse pleural thickening may cause restrictive lung impairment, with affected individuals eligible for compensation. They found no definite evidence linking benign effusion to later mesothelioma and called for larger long-term studies.

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 of published literature on imaging of asbestos-related benign pleural disease
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the review drew on previously published studies of asbestos-exposed people, discussed from a U.K. radiology department
• Exposure: Asbestos in general. The review described the amphibole fibres crocidolite, amosite and anthophyllite and the serpentine fibre chrysotile.
• Main results:
  • Based on earlier studies, the authors stated that CT is more sensitive than chest radiography for detecting diffuse pleural thickening, as it is for pleural plaques.
  • The authors stated that pleural plaques are not usually associated with impairment of lung function.
  • In the U.K., pleural plaques alone are not a prescribed disease for compensation. Bilateral diffuse pleural thickening became a prescribed disease in 1985.
  • The authors described a pleural effusion as probably the earliest manifestation of previous asbestos exposure.
  • The authors stated that many studies have confirmed that diffuse pleural thickening is preceded by a benign asbestos pleural effusion.
  • The authors stated there is at present no definite evidence of a relationship between benign asbestos pleural effusion and later malignant pleural mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that diffuse pleural thickening may result in a restrictive functional lung impairment and that affected individuals are eligible for compensation (in the U.K. context discussed).
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that prevalence figures for pleural plaques are only approximate, because they depend on the method used to detect plaques.
  • The authors stated that larger long-term studies are needed to determine whether benign asbestos pleural effusion is related to mesothelioma.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Pleural plaques and thickening.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Pleural Thickening, Pleural Plaques, Visceral Pleura, Pleural Effusion, Diffuse Pleural Thickening, Asbestos-Related Pleural Disease.

Related studies

• 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)
• Hyperventilation in men claiming compensation for benign asbestos-related diseases — G.K. Crompton (2010)
• Pleurectomy for persistent pain in benign asbestos-related pleural disease — D.I. Fielding, J.L. McKeon, et al. (1995)
• Asbestos-related pleuropulmonary diseases: benign and malignant — A. Lazarus, A. Massoumi, et al. (2012)
• Evaluation of ovarian cancer biomarkers in subjects with benign asbestos-related pleural diseases — E.K. Park, A.R. Johnson, et al. (2011)
• Benign asbestos-related pleural disease — C. King, D. Mayes, et al. (2011)

Browse more research in Clinical Radiology, or return to medical research.