Malignant mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Malignant mesothelioma, by P.P. Taylor (The Medical Journal of Australia, 1988).

The study

• Author: P.P. Taylor
• Journal: The Medical Journal of Australia
• Published: 1988;148(10):542
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000939).

In plain English

This item is a short letter to the editor describing one patient. It is not a research study. The author, a doctor, recalled a 45-year-old Dutch man, an electrician, who was referred in February 1976 by the Mater Misericordiae Public Hospital, Brisbane, for terminal care at home. His tissue diagnosis was spindle-cell sarcoma of the abdominal peritoneum. He was admitted to the hospital in June 1976 and died on the day of admission. An autopsy was allowed, but the author did not receive the reports at the time. In 1987 his widow asked the author to document the cause of death. The hospital records then showed that the diagnosis had been changed to malignant mesothelioma, and that this was recorded as the cause of death. His work history showed considerable work exposure to asbestos while building transformers in the late 1950s, after he arrived in Australia. The Electrical Trades Union prepared a workers' compensation claim and argued that the statute of limitations should be waived on humanitarian grounds. The claim succeeded, with a settlement at the 1976 rate.

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 describing a single patient (case report)
• Who was studied: one 45-year-old male Dutch national, an electrician, referred in February 1976 by the Mater Misericordiae Public Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
• Exposure: considerable work exposure to asbestos while working on the construction of transformers in the late 1950s in Australia; fiber type not stated
• Main results:
  • The patient's initial tissue diagnosis was spindle-cell sarcoma of the abdominal peritoneum
  • He was admitted to hospital in June 1976 and died on the day of admission
  • Hospital records obtained in 1987 showed the diagnosis had been changed to malignant mesothelioma, recorded as the cause of death
  • A workers' compensation claim, with a waiver of the statute of limitations argued on humanitarian grounds, was successful; the widow received a settlement at the 1976 rate

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Under-reporting of compensable mesothelioma in Alberta — M.W. Cree, M. Lalji, et al. (2009)
• Compensation, radiographic changes, and survival in applicants for asbestosis compensation — W.O. Cookson, A.W. Musk, et al. (1985)
• The James Hardie story: asbestos victims' claims evaded by manufacturer — B. Hills (2005)
• Cohort mortality study of women compensated for asbestosis in Italy — D. Germani, S. Belli, et al. (1999)
• Inequities in reporting asbestos-related lung cancer: influence of smoking stigma and physician's specialty, workload and role perception — P. Verger, S. Arnaud, et al. (2008)
• Mesothelioma incidence surveillance systems and claims for workers' compensation. Epidemiological evidence and prospects for an integrated framework — A. Marinaccio, A. Scarselli, et al. (2012)

Browse more research in The Medical Journal of Australia, or return to medical research.