Patient case (clinical description): A 47-year-old man comes to the office for routine checkup. He is complaining of chronic cough and occasional but progressive dyspnea.  Other medical conditions include hypertension and osteoarthritis.  The patient smokes a pack of cigarettes daily and does not use alcohol or illicit drugs.  He used to be a construction worker. On examination, there are decreased breath sounds and percussive dullness at the base of both lungs.  Chest CT scan reveals a mild bilateral pleural effusion and diffuse thickening of the pleura. The patient's documents show chronic exposure to asbestosis. The specimen of the lungs reveled  pulmonary fibrosis that is most predominant in the lower lobes, characterized  by the presence of asbestos bodies (golden-brown beaded rods with translucent centers).

Patient's own account: I'm a 47-year-old former construction worker. I'm a man and I smoke a pack of cigs a day but I don't drink or do drugs. I went to my routine checkup because I've been coughing so much lately. I also had shortness of breath and it got worse over time. I already suffer from hypertension and osteoarthritis. My doctor found that I have decreased breath sounds. I did a chest scan and it seems that I have fluid around my lungs, and the lining of my lungs has become thicker in many areas. I have been exposed a lot to asbestos fibers. The other lung exam showed that I have pulmonary fibrosis, especially in the lower part of my lungs and they found some asbestos there.

Clinical trial: Early Detection of Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma in Workers Exposed to Asbestos

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          -  Women or men age 50 to 79 years

          -  history of exposure to asbestos at work and one or more of the following:

               -  lung cancer risk ≥2% over 3 years or

               -  asbestosis or pleural plaques on a chest x-ray or

               -  abnormal auto-antibodies level using the EarlyCDT test

          -  Capable of providing informed consent for screening procedures (low dose spiral CT,
             lung function, blood biomarkers).

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  Any medical condition, such as severe heart disease (e.g. unstable angina, chronic
             congestive heart failure), acute or chronic respiratory failure, or any disorder, that
             in the opinion of the physician unlikely to benefit from screening due to shortened
             life-expectancy from co-existing illnesses

          -  Have been previously diagnosed with mesothelioma

          -  Have had other cancer within the past 5 years with the exception of the following
             cancers: non-melanomatous skin cancer,localized prostate cancer, carcinoma in situ
             (CIS) of the cervix, or superficial bladder cancer. Treatment of the exceptions must
             have ended >6 months before registration into this study

          -  Pregnancy

          -  Unwilling to have a low dose CT scan of chest

          -  Unwilling to sign a consent
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Subject must be at least 50 Years old.
Subject must be at most 79 Years

Eligibility (NLI label): Contradiction