Ann Occup Environ Med.
2015 ;27(1):9. 10.1186/s40557-015-0061-4.
Risk assessment of gastric cancer associated with asbestosis: a case report
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, South Korea. kangdm@pusan.ac.kr
- 2Department of Preventive and Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Pusan, South Korea.
- 3Environmental Health Center of Asbestos, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, South Korea.
- KMID: 2370855
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-015-0061-4
Abstract
- BACKGROUND
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies asbestos as belonging to Carcinogen Group 2A for gastric cancer. We herein report a case of gastric cancer associated with asbestosis and describe the work-related and risk assessments of asbestos exposure for gastric cancer.
CASE PRESENTATION
The 66-year-old male patient in our case worked in asbestos spinning factories. His level of cumulated asbestos fiber exposure was estimated to be 38.0-71.0 f-yr/cc. Thus, the Excess Life Cancer Risk for lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure was 9,648x10-5, almost 9,600 times the value recommended by the United States of America Environmental Protection Agency (1 x 10-5). The relative risk of developing lung cancer for this patient was more than 25 f-yr/cc, a well-known criterion for doubling the risk of lung cancer.
CONCLUSION
The patient's exposure to high-dose asbestos was sufficient to increase his risk of gastric cancer because as the risk of lung cancer increased, the risk of gastric cancer was due to increase as well. Therefore, occupational asbestos fiber exposure might be associated with gastric cancer in this case.
