Primary calvarial ectopic meningiomas.

Meningiomas should be considered as a possible diagnosis when dealing with tumors of the head and neck, even though these lesions may be located outside the cranial cavity. We report three patients who harbored primary ectopic epidural meningioma arising in the right occipital, parietal and left frontal region protruding extracranially through destructed calvarium and also developing intracranially without dural involvement. The diagnostic value of CT scan is emphasized and the relevant literature on ectopic meningioma is reviewed.

Cystic meningiomas.

Five cases of meningiomas associated with cysts are reported. In a review of the literature the authors stress the importance and difficulty of the preoperative accurate diagnosis and the differential diagnosis from other cystic tumours to avoid misdiagnosis.

Pleural calcification, pleural mesotheliomas, and bronchial cancers caused by tremolite dust.

Around the town of Cermik in south-east Turkey there are many deposits of asbestiform minerals, some of which are used to make whitewash or stucco. A sample of 7000 of the population revealed 461 (6.5%) with pleural thickening and calcification, of whom 103 (1.47% of the total) had evidence of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Forty-one patients with respiratory cancer were admitted to the Diyarbakir Chest Hospital from around Cermik and from a comparable area of equal population (but without asbestos deposits) in 1977-8. Of these 23 were mesotheliomas, 22 coming from around Cermik. In addition, 11 of the 18 primary bronchial cancers came from around Cermik. A similar excess of mesothelioma and bronchial cancer had been admitted from the Cermik area in previous years. The whitewash or stucco material has been shown to contain fibrous tremolite and non-fibrous antigorite/lizardite, chlorite, and talc. A lung biopsy of a patient from Cermik contained large numbers of tremolite fibres, both free and forming asbestos bodies. There were only occasional chrysotile fibres.