Chest
Clinical InvestigationsTremolite Whitewashing and Pleural Calcifications
Section snippets
METHODS
Chest roentgenograms of 688 inhabitants of Metsovo, Milea, Anilio, and Votonossi were evaluated for PCs. The extent of involvement was graded from 1 to 4 as previously described.1 In the occupational/environmental questionnaire used in our first study, we added questions as to the use of “luto.” From those questioned, 240 were able to answer whether they had used or still use it and when its use was discontinued. From these 240, we selected a group of 118 who had stopped using “luto” around 20
RESULTS
From the 688 roentgenograms, 323 (46.9 percent) revealed PCs (Fig 1). They increased from 4.5 percent in the 25 to 39 year group to 71.5 percent in the group 70 + years old. Also increasing with age was the extent of PCs (Fig 1). The decline of the use of “luto” is shown in Figure 2. It was used by virtually all households until 1940. Since then, modern materials, plastic colors, etc, have displaced “luto,” and it is now used by less than 10 percent of those questioned. Figure 3 shows the
DISCUSSION
The results of this study suggest that there is a causal relationship between tremolite used for whitewashing (“luto”) and PCs observed in the Metsovo area. Our research was facilitated by the fact that we were dealing with two neighboring populations with similar life-style, similar professions, and similar housing, but with one difference: one used “luto” for whitewashing. “Luto” had been used by virtually all inhabitants of four villages and never used in the other four. Another point that
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to thank Professor H. M. Moutsopoulos for his valuable comments and Ms. E. E. Papanikolaou for excellent secretarial assistance.
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2012, Critical Reviews in Oncology/HematologyCitation Excerpt :Early studies in Northwest Greece, demonstrated a high prevalence of endemic pleural calcification amongst inhabitants. Despite a lack of asbestos-related industries, up to 47% of inhabitants demonstrated radiographic changes [57]. These villages (as opposed to neighbouring villages where such calcifications were not observed) extensively utilised “luto” soil for whitewashing until the mid-twentieth century.
Guidelines on asbestos-related pleuropulmonary disease
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Manuscript received November 19; revision accepted February 11.