Chrysotile asbestos exposure and mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Chrysotile asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, by M. Huncharek (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1987).

The study

• Author: M. Huncharek
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1987;44(4):287-8
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 11 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000977).

Summary of the article

In this letter, the author responded to a paper by Gardner and colleagues (1986;43:726-32) on the continuing controversy over the carcinogenic potential of chrysotile asbestos. He noted that available data suggested amphibole fibres were more potent than chrysotile for producing mesothelioma, but that this relation was not well defined for lung cancer. He cited a reported statistically significant excess of lung cancer mortality among textile workers exposed exclusively to chrysotile. He suggested that chrysotile fibres physically altered by industrial processing or consumer use might be hazardous, and that brake repair workers, exposed solely to chrysotile, had not been systematically investigated. As part of an epidemiological study of diffuse pleural mesothelioma at the Canadian Tumor Reference Center, he had made a preliminary review of 37 necropsy-confirmed cases associated with occupational asbestos exposure. Three cases, all male, had the job titles brake mechanic (auto), elevator mechanic and railroad brake banding. They were aged 56 to 65, with exposure histories of one month, 30 years and 36 years. Two tumours were sarcomatous and one biphasic, and all three had distant metastases. Electron microscopy of three pleural specimens from the auto mechanic found 51 to 266 x 10^6 fibres per gram of wet tissue, 99% chrysotile and 1% amosite. The author noted that some investigators had considered asbestos exposure during brake repair to be low. He concluded that other occupational and non-occupational groups exposed to chrysotile should be investigated to define their mesothelioma risk more accurately.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a full research paper. The author worked at the Canadian Tumor Reference Center in Ottawa and described a preliminary review of 37 cases of diffuse pleural mesothelioma linked to occupational asbestos exposure, all confirmed at necropsy (autopsy). Three of these cases, all men, had the job titles "brake mechanic (auto)," "elevator mechanic," and "railroad brake banding." They were aged 56 to 65 and had exposure histories of one month, 30 years, and 36 years. Two had sarcomatous tumours and one had a biphasic tumour. All three had distant spread of the cancer (metastases) at necropsy. For the auto brake mechanic, three pleural tissue samples were examined by electron microscopy. The fibres found were 99% chrysotile and 1% amosite. The scanned text gives their concentration as "51 to 266 x 106" fibres per gram of wet tissue. The author concluded that other occupational and non-occupational groups exposed to chrysotile should be studied to define the risk of mesothelioma more accurately.

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: Letter to the editor (correspondence) describing a preliminary review of mesothelioma cases, with details on three cases
• Who was studied: 37 necropsy-confirmed cases of diffuse pleural mesothelioma associated with occupational asbestos exposure, from an epidemiological study at the Canadian Tumor Reference Center, Ottawa, Canada (dates not given). The letter focuses on three male cases with brake-related or mechanic job titles.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure. The three highlighted cases had the job titles brake mechanic (auto), elevator mechanic, and railroad brake banding. Fibres in the auto mechanic's pleura were 99% chrysotile and 1% amosite.
• Main results:
  • The three cases ranged in age from 56 to 65. Their exposure histories were one month, 30 years, and 36 years.
  • Two of the three cases had sarcomatous tumours and the third had a biphasic tumour.
  • All three cases had distant metastases at necropsy.
  • In the auto mechanic, three pleural specimens analysed by electron microscopy gave a fibre concentration printed as 51 to 266 x 106 fibres per gram of wet tissue (the power of ten appears damaged in scanning).
  • Of the fibres found in the auto mechanic's pleura, 99% were chrysotile and 1% amosite.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that other occupational and non-occupational groups exposed to chrysotile asbestos should be investigated to define the risk of mesothelioma more accurately.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author described the case review as preliminary.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Chrysotile, Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Chrysotile, Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Carcinogenic, Amphibole Group, Lung Cancer, Pleural Mesothelioma, Autopsy.

Related studies

• Occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos and cancer risk: a review of the amphibole hypothesis — L.T. Stayner, D.A. Dankovic, et al. (1996)
• Dust exposure and mortality in an American chrysotile asbestos friction products plant — A.D. McDonald, J.S. Fry, et al. (1984)
• Dust exposure and mortality in an American chrysotile textile plant — A.D. McDonald, J.S. Fry, et al. (1983)
• Mortality of two groups of women who manufactured gas masks from chrysotile and crocidolite asbestos: a 40-year follow-up — E.D. Acheson, M.J. Gardner, et al. (1982)
• Nonoccupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos and the risk of lung cancer — M. Camus, J. Siemiatycki, et al. (1998)
• Lung asbestos content in chrysotile workers with mesothelioma — A. Churg, B. Wiggs, et al. (1984)

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