Serum Osteopontin Levels — Is It Time to Screen Asbestos-Exposed Workers for Pleural Mesothelioma?

Abstract

In this issue of the Journal, Pass et al.1 remind us yet again that the fallout from the once uncontrolled use of asbestos will remain with us for years to come. Thankfully, primary prevention of mesothelioma and the far more prevalent consequence of exposure to asbestos — carcinoma of the lung — has been aggressively pursued to varying degrees in all developed countries: most potential sources of human exposure have now been removed or encapsulated, and the introduction of additional asbestos severely curtailed or banned outright. Unfortunately, among the millions exposed occupationally in the past who remain at high risk . . .