DISTINCTION BETWEEN PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA AND PULMONARY ADENOCARCINOMAUSING MOC31 IN AN ASBESTOS SPRAYER

Asbestos exposure may cause asbestosis, pleural plaques and benign ple ural disease, and may pre-dispose to malignant mesothelioma and other neoplasms. The occurrence to two primary tumours in the same patient i s rare, and the appearance oi a pleural mesothelioma and another lung tumour is exceptional. The present case report describes a patient who , by standard immunohistochemistry, was thought to have mesothelioma a t pleuro-pneumonectomy, and adenocarcinoma in the other lung at post-m ortem 5 months later. Subsequent investigation using the MOC31 antibod y demonstrated a single pathology of adenocarcinoma of the lung. The a dditional use of this antibody has important histopathogical and legal implications.