Mesothelioma in a worker who spun chrysotile asbestos at home during childhood.
BACKGROUND
Malignant mesothelioma has a long latency period and more commonly found in those exposed to amphibole than chrysotile asbestos.


METHODS
A 35 years old asbestos worker in an asbestos textile plant in Chongqing, China, developed mesothelioma after only 4 years of employment. He was born and bred in a company residence of an asbestos plant and manually spun asbestos thread during school age. In the plant, not amphibole but only chrysotile has been used.


RESULTS
Diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma was confirmed by comprehensive approaches including gross appearance, histology, histochemistry, and immunocytochemistry. In the lung and tumor tissues, huge number of tremolite with exceptional chrysotile was observed despite the reverse proportion in the work environment.


CONCLUSIONS
Residential exposure and home spinning of asbestos seemed contributed to the early development of mesothelioma in this subject. Although only chrysotile was used and contamination of tremolite was low in the work environment, chrysotile seemed to be cleared leaving tremolite remain in the tissue.


CONCLUSIONS
Chrysotile with little contamination of tremolite can lead to early development of malignant mesothelioma when heavily exposed from childhood at a company residence with household exposure. There can be several mechanisms for tremolite to remain in the lung tissue, far exceeding chrysotile in number.
Yano
Eiji
E
Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. eyano@med.teikyo-u.ac.jp
Wang
Zhi-Ming
ZM
Wang
Xiao-Rong
XR
Wang
Mian-Zheng
MZ
Takata
Ayako
A
Kohyama
Norihiko
N
Suzuki
Yasunosuke
Y
D000328:Adult; D017632:Asbestos, Serpentine / Q000633:toxicity*; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012307:Risk Factors
D017632:Asbestos, Serpentine