Incidental and Underreported Pleural Plaques at Chest CT: Do Not Miss Them—Asbestos Exposure Still Exists

Mazzei, Maria Antonietta; Contorni, Francesco; Gentili, Francesco; Guerrini, Susanna; Mazzei, Francesco Giuseppe; Pinto, Antonio; Squitieri, Nevada Cioffi; Sisinni, Antonietta Gerardina; Paolucci, Valentina; Roméo, R; Sartorelli, Pietro; Volterrani, Luca

doi:10.1155/2017/6797826

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…That study considered a general population of white, middle-class Americans, compared to our study of Japanese lung cancer patients, and included a younger age group (59.2±12.1 years compared to 71.3±9.9 years) and a higher proportion of females (50.3% compared to 27.6%). Another study documented pleural plaques on 5.1% of 1482 chest CTs from a radiological database of a university hospital in Italy 20) . Although this hospital-based Italian study reviewed chest CTs which were taken for various clinical indications including suspected pulmonary embolism or neoplasms, the investigators did not provide information such as age, gender, asbestos exposure, or the period in which the CT scans were obtained for the entire cohort.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential asbestos exposure among patients with primary lung cancer in Japan

Tamura¹,

Funakoshi²,

Awn

et al. 2018

Journal of Occupational Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To investigate the extent of asbestos exposure among patients with primary lung cancer in Japan. Methods: A retrospective estimation of potential asbestos-exposed individuals, as determined by the presence of pleural plaques identified on chest computed tomography (CT), was conducted on 885 pathologically confirmed primary lung cancer patients (mean age 71.3 years, 641 males). All patients were diagnosed at 29 hospitals across Japan between 2006 and 2007. Since these hospitals belong to the Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions (MIN-IREN), an organization of medical institutions for workers, the study subjects may contain a higher proportion of workers than the general population. Results: Pleural plaques were identified in 12.8% of subjects (15.8% in males and 4.9% in females), consisting exclusively of cases older than 50 years. They were found most frequently on the chest wall pleura (96.5%), followed by the diaphragm (23.9%) and mediastinum (9.7%). Calcifications were seen in 47 cases (41.6%). The highest prevalence of pleural plaques was seen among workers from construction-related fields (37.7%). No distinct lung cancer histology was observed in patients with pleural plaques. Coexistence of pleural plaques and small irregular opacities was observed in 2.5% of subjects. Conclusion: In a Japanese population representing more workers than general Japanese, 12.8% of patients with primary lung cancer may have experienced asbestos exposure at some time in the past. Special medical attention should be paid to individuals with a history of employment in construction-related occupations, as workers in this sector showed the highest prevalence of pleural plaques.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential asbestos exposure among patients with primary lung cancer in Japan

Tamura¹,

Funakoshi²,

Awn

et al. 2018

Journal of Occupational Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It should be noted, however, that there was a high percentage of SI underreported by the radiologists that resulted in a significant diagnostic delay. The underreporting phenomenon is widespread in diagnostic imaging, in particular in cross-sectional imaging modalities, because of the high numbers of images, which thus contribute to perceptual error [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67]. This type of error is related to multiple psychophysiological factors, including level of observation alertness, observer fatigue and the absence of a specific clinical suspicion of SI [59,63,64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The underreporting phenomenon is widespread in diagnostic imaging, in particular in cross-sectional imaging modalities, because of the high numbers of images, which thus contribute to perceptual error [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67]. This type of error is related to multiple psychophysiological factors, including level of observation alertness, observer fatigue and the absence of a specific clinical suspicion of SI [59,63,64]. In this field the error could also be attributed to mainly cognitive error or mistaken exam interpretation: the radiologists might not have paid enough attention to the SIJ since they were unaware of its frequent inflammatory involvement in IBD patients, or they underestimated or failed to correctly interpret a perceived radiological abnormality because of insufficient experience or knowledge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Coexisting Spondyloarthritis: A Neglected and too Often Under-Reported Association by Radiologists. A Multicenter Study by Italian Research Group of Imaging in Rheumatology

Mazzei

Gentili

Guerrini

et al. 2020

Gastroenterology Insights

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and the underreporting rate of sacroiliitis (SI) in a large cohort of patients with biopsy-proved Crohn’s disease (CD) who underwent magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) or computed tomography enterography (CTE). Materials and Methods: Patients with CD were recruited from eight Italian health centers in the period from January 2013 to December 2017. Disease activity was recorded according to the CD activity index (CDAI). The scans were read by two blinded readers who defined the presence of SI according to Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) classifications and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations. Moreover, SI was scored using a simplified Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) scoring system. Results: Interobserver agreement in diagnosing SI on imaging was good (K = 0.72–0.83). SI was diagnosed in 129 (14.4%, 54 men, 75 women) out of 894 patients; however, sacroiliac joint (SIJ) abnormalities were not mentioned in the radiological reports of 112 patients (86%). Fifty (38.7%) out of 129 patients also underwent a subsequent SIJ evaluation through a dedicated MRI protocol to confirm SI. SI was found in a higher percentage of patients with “active” than “inactive” CD (18% vs. 4%). Conclusion: This study confirms the feasibility of CTE and MRE for the screening of SI in CD patients; however, it also underlines the remarkable problem concerning the underreporting of this entity in radiological practice.

show abstract

“…Similar to pleural plaques, the diffuse pleural thickenings may be also associated with malignant diseases [20].…”

Section: Diffuse Pleural Thickeningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the diagnostic point of view, a chest radiograph is used as a standard method for detecting diffuse pleural thickenings; however, also in this case, HRCT scans are far superior to any other method [20,37,38].…”

Section: Diffuse Pleural Thickeningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asbestos-Related Pleural Diseases: The Role of Gene-Environment Interactions

Dolžan¹,

Franko²

2020

Diseases of Pleura

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Several pleural diseases have been associated with asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure may lead to the development of benign pleural diseases, such as pleural plaques, diffuse pleural thickening, and pleural effusion, as well as to the development of malignant mesothelioma, a highly aggressive tumour of the pleura. Asbestos exposure related to pleural diseases may be occupational or environmental. Although the causal relationship between asbestos-related pleural diseases and asbestos exposure has been well confirmed, the role of genetic factors in the development of these diseases needs to be further investigated and elucidated. The results of the studies performed so far indicate that in addition to asbestos exposure, genetic factors as well as the interactions between genetic factors and asbestos exposure may have an important impact on the risk of asbestos-related pleural diseases, especially malignant mesothelioma. This chapter aims to present how the risk of developing asbestos-related pleural diseases may be influenced by asbestos exposure, genetic factors, interactions between different genetic factors, as well as interactions between different genetic factors and asbestos exposure.

show abstract

Incidental and Underreported Pleural Plaques at Chest CT: Do Not Miss Them—Asbestos Exposure Still Exists

Cited by 20 publications

References 30 publications

Potential asbestos exposure among patients with primary lung cancer in Japan

Potential asbestos exposure among patients with primary lung cancer in Japan

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Coexisting Spondyloarthritis: A Neglected and too Often Under-Reported Association by Radiologists. A Multicenter Study by Italian Research Group of Imaging in Rheumatology

Asbestos-Related Pleural Diseases: The Role of Gene-Environment Interactions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About