Mesothelial tumors and exposure to asbestos dust

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelial tumors and exposure to asbestos dust, by W.G. Owen (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1965).

The study

• Author: W.G. Owen
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 1965;132(1):674-9
• Cited by: 25 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001537).

Summary of the article

The author looked for evidence of asbestos exposure in recorded cases of diffuse mesothelioma from Liverpool and neighbouring towns of the Merseyside area of North West England. The area is industrial, with shipbuilding, ship repairing and asbestos processing factories. Thirty cases were reviewed over a ten-year period from 1953 onwards. In each, a diagnosis of diffuse mesothelioma had been suggested at some time. The author re-examined clinical histories, post-mortem records and the available tissue, examined lung tissue for asbestos bodies, and took detailed occupational histories from patients or their nearest relatives. Seventeen cases were accepted as diffuse mesothelioma: 16 pleural and one peritoneal, in 12 men and 5 women with an average age of 68 years. Evidence of asbestos exposure was found in 14 (82 per cent). Twelve had been exposed at work, including five laggers, two boiler makers, two asbestos factory workers and two sack repairers. One typist had been exposed through cement dust at her workplace. Asbestos bodies were found in 7 of the 10 confirmed cases with lung sections available, compared with 18 (9 per cent) of 200 consecutive lung specimens. Exposure lasted 5 to 45 years. In all but two cases, more than 20 years passed between first exposure and the tumour. The author concluded that asbestos exposure is a major factor in causing this tumour.

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

The author, a hospital pathologist in Liverpool, England, re-examined 30 cases of cancer of the chest or abdominal lining from Liverpool and the Merseyside area, covering ten years from 1953. All had at some point been suggested to be diffuse mesothelioma. After reviewing records and tissue, the author accepted 17 as true diffuse mesothelioma: 16 of the pleura (chest lining) and one of the peritoneum (abdominal lining). Evidence of asbestos exposure was found in 14 of these 17 (82 per cent). Twelve had known work exposure: five laggers (pipe coverers), two boiler makers in shipbuilding, two asbestos factory workers, two women who sorted and repaired old sacks, and a typist at a concrete firm that received dusty deliveries from a nearby asbestos cement works. Asbestos bodies were found in lung tissue in 7 of 10 cases where lung was available. In a comparison, they were found in 18 of 200 routine lung specimens (9 per cent), which had been tested with a more sensitive method. The author concluded that asbestos exposure is a major factor in causing this tumor. The author noted that little lung tissue had been preserved and that fiber types were not determined.

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 series: retrospective review of clinical histories, post-mortem records and tissue, with occupational histories and microscopic search for asbestos bodies
• Who was studied: 30 cases of malignant growths of the pleura or peritoneum from Liverpool and the Merseyside area of North West England, over ten years from 1953. 17 were confirmed as diffuse mesothelioma (12 male, 5 female).
• Exposure: Asbestos dust in general (fiber type not determined). Jobs included laggers/pipe coverers (mainly insulating steam pipes, some in ship repair yards), boiler makers in shipbuilding, asbestos factory workers (including a female card room operative), sack sorters and repairers handling old asbestos sacks, and a typist near deliveries from an asbestos cement works.
• Main results:
  • Of the 17 confirmed diffuse mesotheliomas, 16 were primary growths of the pleura and one was a primary peritoneal mesothelioma.
  • Evidence of asbestos exposure was obtained in 14 (82 per cent) of the 17 confirmed mesothelioma cases.
  • Five of the mesothelioma patients were laggers, or pipe coverers.
  • Asbestos bodies were identified in lung tissue in 7 of the 10 confirmed mesothelioma cases with lung sections available.
  • In comparison, asbestos bodies were found in 18 (9 per cent) of 200 consecutive pneumonectomy and post-mortem lung specimens from the same period. That group was also examined by a more sensitive smear method.
  • None of the patients in the group not accepted as mesothelioma was known to have worked with asbestos, and none had asbestos bodies found in the lungs.
  • Among the mesothelioma patients, duration of asbestos exposure ranged from five to 45 years.
  • The shortest interval from first known exposure to tumor was 13 years, and in all but two cases the interval exceeded 20 years. Latent intervals of up to 40 years were recorded between the end of exposure and the tumor.
  • Lung specimens from the mesothelioma patients showed no more than slight to moderate fibrous reaction.
  • In the mesothelioma group, all but one patient had died. Average age was 68 years, with the youngest 42 and the oldest 82 at death.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that a close association between asbestos dust exposure and diffuse mesothelioma was confirmed, and that asbestos exposure is a major factor in the causation of this tumor.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Very little lung tissue had been preserved; most specimens were blocks of tumor tissue.
  • In the three mesothelioma cases where no asbestos bodies were found, only small fragments of lung were available.
  • The type of asbestos fiber was not determined, and no information was sought from employers.
  • The limited lung tissue made it difficult to assess pulmonary fibrosis.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Asbestos Bodies, Insulator.

Related studies

• Epidemiology of primary malignant mesothelial tumors in Canada — A.D. McDonald, A. Harper, et al. (1970)
• Epidemiology of mesothelial tumors in the London area — M.L. Newhouse, H. Thompson (1965)
• A biopsy series of mesotheliomata, and attempts to identify asbestos within some of the tumors — D.O. Hourihane (1965)
• Mesotheliomatous tumors in South Africa: pathology and experimental pathology — I. Webster (1965)
• Asbestos and neoplasia: diffuse mesothelial tumors. Criteria for diagnosis of diffuse mesothelial tumors — W.T. McCaughey (1965)
• Diffuse mesothelioma and exposure to asbestos dust in the Merseyside area — W.G. Owen (1964)

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