Ross Robert M
Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Can Respir J. 2016;2016:5340676. doi: 10.1155/2016/5340676. Epub 2016 May 18.
Patients with an asbestos-related mesothelioma may be legally entitled to financial compensation. In this context, a physician may be called upon to apportion the contribution of an asbestos containing product or facility where there was asbestos exposure in the development of that individual's mesothelioma. This task is mathematically not simple. It is a complex function of each and the entire individual's above-background asbestos exposures. Factors to be considered for each of these exposures are the amount of exposure to mesotheliogenic fibers, each of the asbestos containing products' potency to cause mesothelioma, and the time period when the exposures occurred relative to when the mesothelioma was diagnosed. In this paper, the known factors related to asbestos-related mesothelioma risk are briefly reviewed and the software that is downloadable and fully functional in a Windows® environment is also provided. This software allows for rapid assessment of relative contributions and deals with the somewhat tedious mathematical calculations. With this software and a reasonable occupational history, if it is decided that the mesothelioma was due to above-background asbestos exposure, the contribution of an asbestos containing product or a time period of asbestos exposure can be apportioned.
患有与石棉相关的间皮瘤的患者可能在法律上有权获得经济赔偿。在这种情况下，可能会要求医生确定在该个体间皮瘤发展过程中接触过石棉的含石棉产品或设施所起的作用。这项任务在数学上并不简单。它是个体高于背景水平的每次及全部石棉接触情况的复杂函数。对于每次此类接触要考虑的因素包括接触致间皮瘤纤维的量、每种含石棉产品导致间皮瘤的可能性，以及接触发生时间与间皮瘤诊断时间的相对关系。本文简要回顾了与石棉相关的间皮瘤风险的已知因素，并提供了可在Windows®环境下下载且功能齐全的软件。该软件可快速评估相对作用，并处理有些繁琐的数学计算。有了这个软件和合理的职业史，如果确定间皮瘤是由高于背景水平的石棉接触所致，就可以确定含石棉产品或石棉接触时间段所起的作用。
