title: [Benign pleuropathies due to asbestos: their clinical prognostic significance and the medicolegal aspects].
abstract: Benign pleural disease due to asbestos, which at present is frequently the sole lesion in asbestos-exposed subjects due to the fall in full-blown asbestosis, consists of a series of phenomena of increasing severity, from minor manifestations without functional impairment, to manifestations associated with proven functional damage due directly to or as a consequence of as yet undiagnosed parenchymal asbestosis. In assessing individual cases from a medico-legal viewpoint, benign pleural disease must always be considered as a morbid manifestation of asbestos exposure. The implications for prognosis and insurance purposes must, however, take account of various factors such as internal dose, whenever detectable, time elapsed since beginning of exposure, presence and extent of functional damage. The tendency of assessing pleural disease merely as an indicator of past asbestos exposure should in any case be abandoned.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Studio e Ricerca sugli Effetti Biologici delle Polveri Inalate, Università di Milano.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chiappino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pierucci
mesh_terms: D001194:Asbestos / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010995:Pleural Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D001194:Asbestos
vernacular_title: Le pleuropatie benigne da amianto: significato clinico prognostico ed aspetti medico legali.