Mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma, by R. Rudd, J. Moore-Gillon, M. Muers (Thorax, 2002).

The study

• Authors: R. Rudd, J. Moore-Gillon, M. Muers
• Journal: Thorax
• Published: 2002;57(2):187
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This item is a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reports no new data. Its three authors wrote as the medical witnesses who gave evidence in an English High Court mesothelioma case described in an earlier letter by Professor Seaton. They said they essentially agreed with that analysis. They stated that the medical evidence given to the court made clear that the risk of mesothelioma increases with the dose of asbestos, and that the particular fibre or fibres involved in a given mesothelioma cannot be identified. From an epidemiological standpoint, they wrote, all sources of significant exposure can therefore be regarded as having contributed to causing the disease, just as all cigarettes smoked would be for a lung cancer. They described how Mr Justice Curtis took a strictly mechanistic approach and found that causation could not be established against either of two defendants. In a similar case, Mr Justice Mitting concluded that breach of duty by both defendants caused the mesothelioma. The authors noted that both cases were soon to go to the Court of Appeal.

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 (commentary by the medical witnesses in a court case); no study was carried out and no new data are reported
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter concerns an English High Court mesothelioma case, which Professor Seaton described in a separate letter, and a similar case decided by Mr Justice Mitting
• Exposure: Asbestos (no fibre type named), with exposure derived from two sources in the case discussed
• Main results:
  • The authors stated that the medical evidence given to the court made clear that mesothelioma risk increases in relation to the dose of asbestos
  • The authors stated that the medical evidence was that the particular fibre or fibres involved in the genesis of a particular mesothelioma cannot be identified
  • The authors' view: from an epidemiological standpoint, all sources of significant exposure can be regarded as having contributed to causation, as all cigarettes smoked are considered to contribute to a lung cancer
  • The authors reported that Mr Justice Curtis adopted a strictly mechanistic approach and decided that causation could not be established against either of two defendants
  • The authors reported that in a similar case Mr Justice Mitting concluded that breach of duty by both defendants caused the mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors said they essentially agreed with Professor Seaton's analysis. They noted that both cases were soon to be considered by the Court of Appeal, whose outcome would determine whether mesothelioma victims exposed through more than one source would be left without redress

Topics

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

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

Related studies

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• Comparison of "B" readers' interpretations of chest radiographs for asbestos related changes — J.N. Gitlin, L.L. Cook, et al. (2004)
• Expert witness testimony: A trial judge's perspective — J.B. Weinstein (1999)
• The usefulness of expert opinion in medicolegal referrals of malignant mesothelioma — D.L. Dixon, K.M. Griggs, et al. (2013)
• Comparison of B readers' interpretations of chest radiographs for asbestos related changes — K.D. Rosenman (2004)
• Comparison of B readers' interpretations of chest radiographs for asbestos related changes — J.P. Kassirer (2004)

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