Pleural Plaques: The Facts
Pleural Plaques are described as calcified deposits on the surface of the lung, and are indicative of exposure to fibres in asbestos and take decades to form. They are sometimes viewed as less serious than other asbestos related diseases phentermine online without a prescription as they are not responsible for loss of lung capacity, injury to the respiratory tract or breathlessness. However they are indicative of an exposure to asbestos and therefore an increased risk of developing more serious illnesses such as mesothelioma.
Having said that, normal respiratory function can be impaired if the plaques are of a sufficient size, as they may cause a reduction in ventilatory capacity, but to a smaller extent than a disease such as pleural fibrosis.
Ascertaining a precise number of sufferers and the ratio between exposure and cases as there are several areas of uncertainty, such as definition, duration of follow up and data sources,. But, bearing these in mind, experts suggest that somewhere between a third and half of workers exposed to asbestos will later suffer from calcified pleural plaques, and 10% will experience uncalcified plaques.
As the sensitivity of x-rays to pick up pleural plaques lies below 40%, due to density issues, they are indentified much more successfully in post-mortem surveys and so appear to be more prevalent in this area.
Those working in certain industries are exposed to a higher risk of pleural plaques, and these include pipe fitting and insulation. Experts have learned from past cases and have found that if the plaques are larger then they are more likely to be calcified as they usually have an increased fiber burden.
However there are cases where someone with no evidence of pleural plaques may still suffer with the same fiber burden, as plaques develop dependent on the immune system of the sufferer, so just because there are no plaques it doesn’t mean there has been no asbestos exposure.
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