title: Survey of environmental exposure to asbestos in the town of Buyuktatlar, Turkey.
abstract: Asbestos-related cases admitted to Chest Diseases Clinic of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Medical Faculty generally came from Buyuktatlar, a town adjacent to the Afsin district of Kahramanmaraş city. This led us to screen for lung pathologies due to exposure to environmental  asbestos in the town of Buyuktatlar. Six hundred and eighty-five inhabitants older than 30 years living in the town were identified as the study group and 488 persons (71·2%) were accepted for evaluation. Then, chest X-rays of these cases were taken and bilateral pleural plaque, bilateral  pleural thickening, reticular lung infiltrations, and costophrenic angle obliteration were evaluated as asbestos-related disorders (ARD). ARD were diagnosed in 56 (11·5%) of the 488 chest X-rays that were assessed and no differences were observed between genders. Twenty-five of the  cases were investigated by high-resolution computed tomography. Twenty-four were confirmed as ARD. In addition, chrysotile fiber was found in two of four soil samples taken from the town.
authors: Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Turkey. nurhank@ksu.edu.tr
authors: Nurhan
authors: N
authors: Köksal
authors: Mustafa
authors: M
authors: Çelik
authors: Hasan
authors: H
authors: Kahraman
authors: Hasan Ç
authors: HÇ
authors: Ekerbiçer
authors: Canan E
authors: CE
authors: Dağlı
authors: Fuat
authors: F
authors: Özkan
mesh_terms: D001194:Asbestos; D001195:Asbestosis; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D001194:Asbestos