Unexpected occupational exposure to asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Unexpected occupational exposure to asbestos, by R. Barnes, A.J. Rogers (The Medical Journal of Australia, 1984).

The study

• Authors: R. Barnes, A.J. Rogers
• Journal: The Medical Journal of Australia
• Published: 1984;140(8):488-90
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 2 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. 001686).

Abstract

A 44-year-old woman with mesothelioma of the pleura presented for possible compensation to the Workers' Compensation (Dust Diseases) Board of New South Wales. No obvious asbestos exposure could be obtained from examination of the occupational history, yet examination of lung tissue revealed the presence of elevated levels of brown asbestos (amosite).

In plain English

This case report described a 44-year-old woman in New South Wales, Australia, who sought compensation for pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung. A mesothelioma registry panel confirmed the diagnosis. She was a lifelong non-smoker. For 12 years, from 1960 to 1972, she had worked as a process worker in an artificial jewellery factory, where rubber moulds were dusted with talc. The factory manager gave assurances that asbestos powder was never used as a parting agent. About 1 g of her lung tissue was analysed. Chrysotile and crocidolite fibre levels were within the range found in the normal urban population. Amosite (brown asbestos) was elevated to the range of 3 million fibres per gram of dry tissue, six times the upper normal urban range. The talc used 20 years earlier could not be analysed. A sample of the talc now used at the factory showed no fibrous or asbestiform fibres. The authors concluded that an industrial cause should always be thoroughly investigated in people with malignant mesothelioma, even when there is no obvious asbestos exposure.

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 report
• Who was studied: One 44-year-old woman, born in Austria, who had lived in Australia since age seven, a lifelong non-smoker, who presented to the Workers' Compensation (Dust Diseases) Board of New South Wales with pleural mesothelioma; symptoms began in April 1981
• Exposure: Talc dust used as a separating agent on rubber moulds while she worked as a process worker in an artificial jewellery factory for 12 years (1960 to 1972); the manager gave assurances that asbestos powder was never used as a parting agent; her only known occupational exposure was to talc dust
• Main results:
  • The tumour, covering nearly the whole surface of the left lung, was accepted by the mesothelioma registry panel as a definite pleural mesothelioma
  • By light microscopy, her lung tissue contained 123 000 (plus or minus 87 000) coated fibres and 493 000 (plus or minus 174 000) uncoated fibres per gram of dry tissue
  • By transmission electron microscopy, fibres longer than 5 micrometres numbered 4 (plus or minus 1) million per gram of dry tissue
  • Chrysotile and crocidolite fibre levels in her lung were within the normal urban range; amosite was elevated to the range of 3 million fibres per gram of dry tissue
  • The amosite level in her lung was six times the upper range of the normal urban population
  • A sample of the talc currently used in the factory, tested by light microscopy, showed no fibrous or asbestiform fibres
  • After open-lung biopsy and radiotherapy, she remained reasonably well and pain-free, with no obvious secondary deposits 24 months later
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the case illustrates that an industrial cause should always be thoroughly investigated when taking an occupational history from people with malignant mesothelioma, even when there is no obvious asbestos exposure
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The talc actually used during her employment about 20 years earlier could not be analysed; only talc currently used was tested

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis, Mesothelioma, Talc and vermiculite.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Occupational Exposure, Mesothelioma, Pleura, Asbestos Exposure, Occupational History, Amosite.

Related studies

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• Talc exposure and risk of stomach cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis of occupational cohort studies — C.J. Chang, Y.K. Tu, et al. (2020)
• Occupational exposures to cosmetic talc and risk of mesothelioma: an updated pooled cohort and statistical power analysis with consideration of latency period — G.M. Marsh, A.M. Ierardi, et al. (2019)
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