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Friday 19, November, 2004, 12:30-18:30, (16:00-17:00, Q&A) No.3 CR Saturday 20, November, 2004, 09:30-18:30, (16:00-17:00, Q&A) No.3 CR Sunday 21, November, 2004, 09:30-12:30, No.3 CR Poster Sessions Claudio Bianchi, Tommaso Bianchi Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer - Italian League against Cancer, Monfalcone, Italy ABSTRACT During the last decades huge amounts of asbestos were imported by many industrialized countries. Asbestos was mainly imported by sea, and ports were severely involved. In the period 1960-1980 asbestos burdens ranging between 5,000 and 18,000 tons per year, passed through the port of Trieste. The mineral was transported by sacks or carton containers. These cartons often broke, resulting in high dustiness. The severity of the pollution was documented by the Occupational Medicine Unit of the Local Health Authority in 1977. In the present study 23 mesotheliomas of the pleura, observed among dock workers in Trieste between 1968 and 2004, were reviewed. Necropsy findings were available in 18 cases. The patients, all males, aged between 39 and 80 years (mean 61 years) were generally employed in loading-unloading of a variety of merchandises, including asbestos. Of 18 people, for whom sufficient chronological data were available, 12 had begun their activity after 1950. A majority of patients had worked for more than 20 years. Latency periods ranged between 25 and 60 years (mean 38 years). Routine histological sections of lung tissue, examined in 17 necropsy cases, showed asbestos bodies in 15. When compared with other occupational groups, investigated in the Trieste area, port workers showed shorter latency periods and higher prevalences of asbestos bodies on routine lung sections. Both the above findings indicate an exposure to asbestos heavy in intensity. Two additional cases of pleural mesothelioma attributable to the activity of Trieste port were observed in two women. Both the patients had lived in housing facing the port. Their histories were negative for occupational as well as for domestic exposure to asbestos. Necropsy was performed in one of the two cases, and several asbestos bodies were seen on routine lung sections. |