Pleural plaques linked to lung cancer

Pleural plaques linked to lung cancer

One in eight patients with lung cancer also had pleural plaques, a study has found. The Japanese study comes at a time the insurance industry is challenging moves to compensate pleural plaques in Scotland and across Britain. Insurers are arguing this form of asbestos related lung scarring is asymptomatic and should not be compensated, however unions and asbestos campaigners maintain the condition is linked to a far greater likelihood of subsequent cancer development and this association alone causes unacceptable stress and anxiety. The campaigners' argument would seem to be corroborated by the new research, released this week by 12 medical institutions in Japan. The research team said the number of people who died from asbestos-related lung cancer in Japan might amount to several thousand people a year, several times the number currently receiving compensation. Between 2006 and 2007, the 12 medical institutions examined 471 patients aged 26 to 94 who were diagnosed with nonmetastatic lung cancer, to check if they had developed pleural plaques. The 12 institutions belong to the Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions. The research team discovered pleural plaques in 28 patients, or 5.9 per cent, through chest X-rays, and in 58 patients, or 12.3 per cent, through high-resolution computer tomography. According to a study panel of the Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, asbestos exposure is the sole cause of pleural plaques. Akihiko Tamura, director of Kyushu Institute of Social Medicine and a member of the research team, said far more lung cancer patients should be receiving compensation for asbestos-related lung cancer.

The Yomiuri Shimbun.