Pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Pleural mesothelioma, by E.G. Butchart, A.R. Gibbs (Current Opinion in Oncology, 1990).

The study

• Authors: E.G. Butchart, A.R. Gibbs
• Journal: Current Opinion in Oncology
• Published: 1990;2(2):352-8
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This 1990 article was a narrative review of recent published research on pleural mesothelioma. It covered causes, diagnosis, staging and treatment, and reported no new data of its own. On fiber type, the authors described a review by Churg that counted 53 acceptable cases of chrysotile-associated mesothelioma, 41 of them in people exposed to mine dust probably contaminated by tremolite. They also cited a study of a friction-materials factory that mainly used chrysotile but for short periods also used crocidolite. Thirteen mesotheliomas occurred there, and at least 11 could be accounted for by crocidolite exposure. The authors concluded that it appeared increasingly unlikely that chrysotile in its pure form causes malignant mesothelioma. They noted that mixed fiber exposures make single fiber types hard to study. On diagnosis, they summarized laboratory tests, including keratin staining to help tell the connective tissue type of mesothelioma apart from other spindle-cell tumors, and flow cytometry to help judge whether mesothelial cells were malignant. On treatment, they noted that no controlled trials of radical surgery combined with additional therapy had yet been conducted.

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: Narrative review of published literature (Current Opinion in Oncology), with annotated references; no original data
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the article reviewed published studies on diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma
• Exposure: Asbestos fiber types discussed in the reviewed literature: crocidolite, chrysotile, tremolite (as a contaminant of chrysotile ore and vermiculite), and amosite
• Main results:
  • A literature review by Churg, cited by the authors, estimated 53 acceptable cases of chrysotile-associated mesothelioma. Of these, 41 occurred in individuals exposed to mine dust that was probably contaminated by tremolite.
  • In a cited study of a factory making friction materials mainly from chrysotile, with short periods of crocidolite use, 13 mesotheliomas occurred in the work force. At least 11 could be accounted for by crocidolite exposure.
  • In a cited keratin staining study, the spindle-celled component of all 16 pure connective tissue type and all 14 mixed type mesotheliomas reacted with at least one antibody. All 39 other spindle-celled tumors were unreactive.
  • In a cited flow cytometry study, 53% of 19 routinely processed malignant mesotheliomas were DNA aneuploid and 47% were diploid. All 28 fresh benign effusion specimens, which contained nonmalignant mesothelial cells, were diploid. The comparison was with benign effusions, not with other tumors.
  • A cited antimesothelial cell antibody did not react with any of the 31 lung carcinomas studied.
  • The authors stated that no controlled trials of radical surgery combined with adjunctive therapy had yet been conducted.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that it appeared increasingly unlikely that chrysotile in its pure form causes malignant mesothelioma.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that the dangers of individual fiber types are hard to evaluate because groups exposed to only one fiber type are hard to find; mixed exposures are most common.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Three decades of experience in the surgical multi-modality management of pleural mesothelioma — H. Luckraz, M. Rahman, et al. (2010)
• Advances in malignant mesothelioma — B.W. Robinson, R.A. Lake (2005)
• Guidelines of the European Respiratory Society and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons for the management of malignant pleural mesothelioma — A. Scherpereel, P. Astoul, et al. (2010)
• Asbestos exposure, pleural mesothelioma, and serum osteopontin levels — H.I. Pass, D. Lott, et al. (2005)
• Initial analysis of the international association for the study of lung cancer mesothelioma database — V.W. Rusch, D. Giroux, et al. (2012)
• Tremelimumab for patients with chemotherapy-resistant advanced malignant mesothelioma: an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial — L. Calabrò, A. Morra, et al. (2013)

Browse more research in Current Opinion in Oncology, or return to medical research.