Environmental pleural plaques due to asbestos and fibrous zeolite exposure in Turkey

There are many districts in central and south-eastern Anatolia where benign and malignant pleural diseases occur as a result of environmental exposure to mineral fibres. Tremolite asbestos is found in the region and, in addition, in certain areas, there is a unique non-asbestos fibre called erionite which is a fibrous zeolite and which causes pulmonary diseases similar to those produced by asbestos. In this article we would like to report. the frequency of calcified pleural plaques in a large-scale epidemiological study in Turkey. The presence of such plaques is considered indicative of mineral fibre exposure. The mineralogy of the region, exposure characteristics of the population and frequency of detection by computerised tomography, thoracoscopy and thoracotomy are also given.