Pleural mesothelioma after neighborhood exposure to asbestos during childhood

Our plain-English summary of Pleural mesothelioma after neighborhood exposure to asbestos during childhood, by N. Inase, S. Takayama, M. Nakayama, et al (Japanese Journal of Medicine, 1991).

The study

• Authors: N. Inase, S. Takayama, M. Nakayama, H. Miura, Y. Kimula
• Journal: Japanese Journal of Medicine
• Published: 1991;30(4):343-5
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A 38-year-old woman with pleural mesothelioma who had a history of neighborhood asbestos exposure during her childhood was demonstrated. She had no known history of occupational asbestos exposure. This is the first case of mesothelioma with neighborhood asbestos exposure reported in Japan. Previously-reported cases of mesothelioma with neighborhood asbestos exposure in the English language literature were reviewed.

In plain English

This case report from Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, Japan, described a 38-year-old woman with pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining. She had no known asbestos exposure at work. She was born in 1941 in Ube, Yamaguchi, and lived there until age four. Cement plants stood within one kilometer of her house, and her mother, a cement plant worker, let her play on white-dust-covered hills at the factory. The authors reported no other known exposure. She was referred in October 1979 with right chest pain. A chest X-ray showed right-sided fluid and calcification, and a pleural biopsy showed epithelial-type malignant pleural mesothelioma. She died in September 1980. At autopsy, a diffuse, mixed-type tumor in the right pleural cavity encased the right lung and invaded the diaphragm and chest wall. Lung tissue contained 517 asbestos bodies per gram, and the article did not name the fiber type. The authors called this the first such case reported in Japan, noting that earlier Japanese cases had appeared only as abstracts. They concluded that a careful history taken by physicians may establish asbestos exposure as a factor in mesothelioma.

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 of a single patient. The authors described it as the first case of mesothelioma with neighborhood asbestos exposure reported in Japan. They noted that there had been no complete Japanese reports of such cases, only abstracts. The discussion also summarized earlier published reports from other countries.
• Who was studied: One 38-year-old woman, born in 1941 in Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan, where she lived until age four. She was referred to the authors' hospital in Yokosuka on October 27, 1979 because of right chest pain.
• Exposure: Neighborhood (non-occupational) exposure during childhood. Cement plants, nitrogen compound factories and a coal mine were within one kilometer of her house, and her mother took her to a cement plant and let her play on hills covered in white dust. She had no other known asbestos exposure besides this exposure in her first 4 years of life. The article does not name the asbestos fiber type.
• Main results:
  • In this patient, a chest X-ray showed a right pleural effusion (fluid) and a calcification beneath the right hemidiaphragm.
  • Cytology of the pleural fluid found no malignant cells, but a pleural biopsy showed malignant pleural mesothelioma of the epithelial type.
  • The patient received intrathoracic chemotherapy and died in September 1980.
  • At autopsy, a diffuse pleural tumor in the right pleural cavity encased the right lung and invaded the diaphragm and chest wall. Under the microscope it was a mixed-type malignant mesothelioma, made up of epithelial and spindle-cell sarcomatous cells.
  • In 1.82 g of the patient's fixed lung tissue, the authors found 517 asbestos bodies per gram by microscopy.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos exposure may be established as a factor in the development of mesothelioma if physicians obtain a careful history.

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, Environmental Exposure, Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Mapping the risk of mesothelioma due to neighborhood asbestos exposure — N. Kurumatani, S. Kumagai (2008)
• Malignant mesothelioma from neighborhood exposure to anthophyllite asbestos — W.N. Rom, S.P. Hammar, et al. (2001)
• Association of mesothelioma deaths with neighborhood asbestos exposure due to a large-scale asbestos-cement plant — Y. Kitamura, L. Zha, et al. (2023)
• Relationships of Lower Lung Fibrosis, Pleural Disease, and Lung Mass with Occupational, Household, Neighborhood, and Slate Roof-Dense Area Residential Asbestos Exposure — D. Kang, Y.Y. Kim, et al. (2018)
• Re: Malignant mesothelioma from neighborhood exposure to anthophyllite asbestos — M. Kottek, D. Kilpatrick (2002)
• Pulmonary abnormalities as a result of exposure to Libby amphibole during childhood and adolescence-The Pre-Adult Latency Study (PALS) — J. Szeinuk, C.W. Noonan, et al. (2017)

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