Malignant mesothelioma and gas-mask assemblers

Our plain-English summary of Malignant mesothelioma and gas-mask assemblers, by D.B. Jefferys, J.A. Vale (British Medical Journal, 1978).

The study

• Authors: D.B. Jefferys, J.A. Vale
• Journal: British Medical Journal
• Published: 1978;2(6137):607
• Type of article: Case report
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 002127).

In plain English

This article reported two cases of malignant mesothelioma in people who had assembled gas masks in wartime. The first, an 83-year-old widow, had chest pain, breathlessness and a large left-sided pleural effusion; cytology suggested mesothelioma and pleural biopsy confirmed it. Apart from assembling gas masks in the first world war at a south-east London factory, which made Service respirators with asbestos filters for six months in late 1915, she had been a housewife. The authors noted that her mesothelioma developed 63 years after exposure. The second, a 62-year-old lorry driver, had chest pain and cough; biopsy of a mass deep to the sternum showed malignant mesothelioma. In the second world war he had assembled gas-mask filters for three months at a factory in Leyland, Lancashire, and he had no other history of asbestos exposure, giving a 37-year latency. The authors concluded that mesothelioma must be considered in anyone with a pleural lesion of insidious onset and that the cases show the importance of a detailed history.

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 reports (two patients)
• Who was studied: Two patients at Guy's Hospital, London: an 83-year-old widow and a 62-year-old lorry driver (reported 1978)
• Exposure: Case 1: assembling gas masks at a factory in south-east London during the first world war; Service respirators with asbestos filters were assembled there for six months in late 1915. Case 2: collecting gas masks from a factory in Leyland, Lancashire, during the second world war and assembling mask filters for three months. The article does not state the fiber type for either patient's own exposure.
• Main results:
  • Case 1 (83-year-old woman): cytology suggested mesothelioma and pleural biopsy confirmed it
  • Case 1: mesothelioma developed 63 years after exposure
  • Case 2 (62-year-old lorry driver): biopsy of a mass deep to the sternum was diagnostic of malignant mesothelioma
  • Case 2: no other history of asbestos exposure; latency of 37 years before symptoms
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that these cases reinforce the suggestion that mesothelioma must be considered in anyone with a pleural lesion of insidious onset, and that they illustrate the importance of taking a detailed history.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• 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)
• Mesothelioma after crocidolite exposure during gas mask manufacture — A.D. McDonald, J.C. McDonald (1978)
• Sixty years on: the price of assembling military gas masks in 1940 — J.C. McDonald, J.M. Harris, et al. (2006)
• Lung fiber burden in the Nottingham gas mask cohort — G. Berry, F. Pooley, et al. (2009)
• Modelling mesothelioma risk for workers assembling military gas masks — J.W. Cherrie, H.A. Cowie, et al. (2007)
• Comparison of fibre types and size distributions in lung tissues of paraoccupational and occupational cases of malignant mesothelioma — A.R. Gibbs, D.M. Griffiths, et al. (1990)

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