Vincent M, Perrin G, Vuillermoz-Blas S, Laennec E, Blanchet A-S, Frecon G, Thivolet F, Roux E, Chemarin C
Service de pneumologie, centre hospitalier Saint-Joseph-Saint-Luc, 20 quai Claude-Bernard, Lyon, France.
Rev Pneumol Clin. 2011 Oct;67(5):298-303. doi: 10.1016/j.pneumo.2010.11.002. Epub 2011 Feb 2.
We report on a study concerning a retrospective monocentric series of 73 lung cancers operated on between July 2004 and December 2009. All patients had a mineralogical analysis of a sample of lung tissue combined with an occupational questionnaire. This combination enables us to suggest a declaration of occupational exposure in almost one third of cases. We suggest that a healthy parenchymal fragment is to be obtained by biopsy routinely in cases of lung cancer surgery. The analysis should be carried out if the occupational survey does not demonstrate any evident exposure and if the patient is not known to be presenting a pleuropulmonary disease following asbestos exposure (pleural plaques and asbestosis).
