ABSTRACT
Arnold Piatt, a radiologist at the Newark Hospital, reviewed the radiologic aspects of primary mesothelioma or endothelioma of the pleura. Over 200 authors had discussed and offered opinions on the entity at that time called primary mesothelioma, or endothelioma of the pleura. Piatt points out that it was a very difficult diagnostic problem for pathologists who argued amongst themselves as to the type and histologic origin of the neoplasm. Mesotheliomas have not been found in South African chrysotile miners and millers, despite decades of producing over 100,000 tons of mineral per year. Low amounts of chrysotile and tremolite fibers were found in lung fiber analysis. Mesothelioma cases in Canada have much higher concentrations of tremolite. Carcinogenicity will prove to be a correlate of asbestosis rather than a specific biological function of the mineral asbestos. The relationship between amphibole asbestos was primarily related to the concentration of crocidolite fibers in the lung, but also amosite.
