A case of asbestosis, pleural effusion and lung cancer caused by long-term occupational asbestos exposure

Abstract

Asbestos is widely used in the textile, asbestos cement, construction products, friction material, paper products, insulation products, chemical and plastic products because of its heat resistance, flexibility, tensile strength, and texturability. It is now generally recognized that longterm and excessive inhalation of asbestos dust causes asbestosis, lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and malignancies in other organs such as cancer of gastrointestinal tract, leukemia, lymphoma. Although eighty thousand tons of asbestos has been annually consumed since 1979 in Korea, it has not been reported asbestos and lang cancer by asbestos dust so far, while a case of mesothelioma was officially diagnosis as a occupational disease at 1993. We experienced firstly a case of asbestosis and lung cancer caused simultaneously by occupational asbestos exposure 11 years, which was confirmed by chest x-ray, pulmonary function test, chest CT and HRCT, bronchoalveolar lavage, and gallium scan. And so we present a case of asbestosis, pleural effusion and lung cancer with a review literature.