Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Case Report

A Case of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Induced by Crocidolite: Jong Rae Roh, Jin Gun Sohn, Hye Ran Song, Jin Ha Kim, Jin Gon Seol; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2005;17(2):149-154. Published online June 30, 2005; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2005.17.2.149

Abstract PDF: Asbestos exposure may cause asbestosis, pleural plaques and benign pleural disease, and may give a predisposition to malignant mesothelioma in occupationally exposed workers. This case report describes a 50-year-old man, dying from histologically confirmed, diffuse, malignant mesothelioma after asbestos exposure. As a young man, he had been exposed at the workplace to crocidolite for 2 years, but he had no other known history of occupational or environmental asbestos exposure. The patient presented with chest pain and general weakness. Computed tomography showed bilateral irregular pleural thickening along both lower lateral chest walls and a low attenuating mass in the anterior portion of the left lobe. Pathological examinations revealed that it was an epithelial type with tubulopapillary structures and it tested immunohistochemically positive for antibodies against cytokeratin, calretinin and vimentin. The patient was started on chemotherapy but he died to the disease at ten months after the first onset of the symptoms. Mesothelioma is a rare neoplasm in the general population. Nevertheless, the importance of close medical surveillance of the high-risk population is emphasized, because of increased asbestos exposure.

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