Pleural mesothelioma in a lift mechanic

Our plain-English summary of Pleural mesothelioma in a lift mechanic, by D.J. Kilpatrick (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1989).

The study

• Author: D.J. Kilpatrick
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1989;46(12):894
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000110).

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study. The author responded to an earlier article by Huncharek and others (1989;46:500-1), whose authors had speculated about the asbestos exposure of a lift mechanic whose primary exposure was to lift brake linings that the mechanic routinely cut, fitted and removed. The author stated having interviewed well over 100 people with asbestos related disease, including lift mechanics. In those interviews, the author wrote, the "primary exposure" of a lift mechanic was not necessarily the principal causative exposure. The author described lift mechanics working in buildings under renovation or construction while other tradesmen sprayed asbestos fire retardants. They also worked in lift shafts that could carry contaminated air upward through the "stack effect," cut asbestos fire retardant materials from fire doors, and worked alongside tradesmen lagging or delagging pipes. The author's opinion was that a lift mechanic may have had heavy exposures to amphiboles, which are much more likely to have caused a pleural mesothelioma than regular but low level exposure to chrysotile from lift brake work. The letter gave no exposure measurements or statistical analyses.

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 (correspondence) giving the author's opinion on an earlier article, based on the author's interviews
• Who was studied: The author reported interviewing well over 100 people with asbestos related disease, including lift mechanics; no further details given
• Exposure: Lift brake linings (described as regular, low level chrysotile exposure) compared with other exposures of lift mechanics: asbestos fire retardants sprayed by other tradesmen, contaminated air rising in lift shafts, cutting asbestos fire retardant materials from fire doors, and pipe lagging or delagging by nearby tradesmen (described as possible heavy amphibole exposure)
• Main results:
  • From the interviews, the author observed that a lift mechanic's "primary exposure" to asbestos was not necessarily the principal causative exposure
  • The author described lift shafts in multistorey buildings acting as a route for often heavily contaminated air to rise (the "stack effect"), exposing the mechanic to virtually any air contaminants from building operations
  • The author stated that lift mechanics are often required to cut asbestos fire retardant materials from fire doors and to work alongside tradesmen lagging or delagging pipes
• The authors' conclusion: The author gave the opinion that a lift mechanic may have had heavy exposures to amphiboles, which are much more likely to have been the cause of a pleural mesothelioma than regular, but low level, exposure to chrysotile from work on lift brakes

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

• Pleural mesothelioma in a lift mechanic — M. Huncharek, J. Muscat, et al. (1989)
• Mesothelioma and lung cancer among motor vehicle mechanics: a meta-analysis — M. Goodman, M.J. Teta, et al. (2004)
• Mortality of auto mechanics. A ten-year follow-up — E.S. Hansen (1989)
• Malignant mesothelioma and asbestos exposure among auto mechanics: appraisal of scientific evidence — O. Wong (2001)
• Mesothelioma among car mechanics? — H.J. Woitowitz, K. Rödelsperger (1994)
• Mesothelioma among brake mechanics: an expanded analysis of a case-control study — P.A. Hessel, M.J. Teta, et al. (2004)

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