Pleural mesothelioma with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Our plain-English summary of Pleural mesothelioma with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, by P. Hughes, C.R. McGavin (Thorax, 1995).

The study

• Authors: P. Hughes, C.R. McGavin
• Journal: Thorax
• Published: 1995;50(8):915
• Type of article: Case report, Letter
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

This letter to the editor responded to a case reported by Tondini and colleagues (Thorax, December 1994;49:1269-70) of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in an asbestos worker with mesothelioma. The authors noted that lymphoproliferative disorders were not recognised as prescribed asbestos-related diseases, although Tondini's case and others had attempted to make this relationship. The authors, from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Plymouth Chest Clinic, Freedom Fields Hospital, Plymouth, UK, described a further case. A 60-year-old man developed histologically proven mesothelioma after heavy exposure to asbestos in the Devonport dockyard. He presented with a pleural effusion and died 15 months later. At necropsy an ulcerating mass was found in the stomach, and biopsies of the lesion showed a lymphocytic lymphoma. Contrary to the view of Tondini and colleagues, the authors stated that the association between gastrointestinal cancer and asbestos had not been conclusively proven. They cited a re-assessment of the evidence on that question. They added that an increased incidence of exposure to asbestos had been noted in a study of gastric lymphoma. The authors offered their case as an addition to those referred to by Tondini and colleagues. They agreed that further study of the relationship between lymphoma and asbestos should be conducted.

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

This was a letter to the editor of Thorax, written in response to an earlier case reported in the same journal by Tondini and colleagues. The authors added one case of their own: a 60 year old man who developed histologically proven mesothelioma after heavy exposure to asbestos in the Devonport dockyard. The letter does not say which type of asbestos fiber he was exposed to. He first came to medical attention with a pleural effusion (fluid around the lung) and died 15 months later. At necropsy (post-mortem examination), an ulcerating mass was found in his stomach, and biopsies of it showed a lymphocytic lymphoma. Because this is a single case, it describes what happened to one person and does not show how often lymphoma occurs in people exposed to asbestos. The authors added their case to those already reported and agreed that further study of the relationship between lymphoma and asbestos should be conducted. The letter's title describes the two cancers as pleural mesothelioma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

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 reporting a single case (case report)
• Who was studied: One 60 year old man who had worked with asbestos in the Devonport dockyard, UK; reported by the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Plymouth Chest Clinic
• Exposure: Heavy exposure to asbestos in the Devonport dockyard; fiber type, job and dose not specified
• Main results:
  • The man developed histologically proven mesothelioma
  • He presented with a pleural effusion and died 15 months after presentation
  • At necropsy an ulcerating mass was found in his stomach
  • Biopsies of the stomach lesion showed a lymphocytic lymphoma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors added their case to those referred to by Tondini and colleagues and agreed that further study of the relationship between lymphoma and asbestos should be conducted

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Pleural mesothelioma associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — M. Tondini, G. Rocco, et al. (1994)
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Pleural Mesothelioma in a Person Exposed to Asbestos — C. Bianchi, T. Bianchi (2018)
• Simian virus 40 is present in most United States human mesotheliomas, but it is rarely present in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — P. Rizzo, M. Carbone, et al. (1999)
• A death-certificate case-control study of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and occupation in men in North Carolina — M.C. Schumacher, E. Delzell (1988)
• Malignant mesothelioma after radiation treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma — M.L. De Bruin, J.A. Burgers, et al. (2009)
• Clinicopathologic characteristics of malignant mesotheliomas arising in patients with a history of radiation for Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma — L.R. Chirieac, J.A. Barletta, et al. (2013)

Browse more research in Thorax, or return to medical research.