Introduction:

Pleural mesothelioma is a rare tumor with a high degree of malignancy. It is considered an occupational disease that has developed in parallel with the industrial use of asbestos. In Argentina, the asbestos was prohibited in 2003. The objective of this study is to know the clinical and diagnostic characteristics and treatment of pleural mesothelioma and to determine the characteristics of asbestos exposure in 40 cases of mesothelioma in different regions of the Argentine Republic.

Materials and Methods:

It is a descriptive, multicenter study. Hospitals from Buenos Aires, Tucumán, Córdoba and Rosario participated in this study from January 2013 until January 2015. Clinical data were recorded in a Medical Form, and history of environmental, domestic and occupational exposure was recorded in an Exposure Form.

Each participant was classified as:

exposed, not exposed or unknown. The patient was considered as “exposed” if he/she identified at least one of the three types of exposure: occupational, environmental or domestic.

Results:

40 cases of pleural mesothelioma were analyzed, 55% of which were male. We found reference of at least one exposure to asbestos in 75% of the cases; 7.5% denied every possible type of exposure and in 17.5% exposure was unknown.

The probability of exposure was:

57.5% environmental, 60% domestic and 37% occupational. There was a greater statistically significant proportion of men with occupational exposure.

Conclusion:

The contribution of this work relies on the information about the different types of asbestos exposure in cases of pleural mesothelioma in the Argentine Republic.