Arsenic dose in patients with cutaneous carcinomata and hepatic haemangio-endothelioma after environmental and occupational exposure

Abstract

A total of 16 male cases with malignant tumours associated with arsenic-polluted water were observed in Tarapacá and Antofagasta Provinces, northern Chile. Fifteen of them had skin carcinomata and the remaining one a haemangio-endothelioma of liver. The 15 skin cancer cases had latent periods ranging from 12–45 years. Three patients were studied in detail. The first one (skin cancer) had a latent period of 20 years with a weighted mean dose of 1.2 mg/day (total dose for latent period 8.4 g). The second one (skin cancer) had a latent period of 23 years with a weighted mean dose of 1.0 mg/day (total dose for latent period 8.3 g). The third case (liver tumour) exhibited a latent period of 14 years with a weighted mean of 0.6 mg/day (total dose for latent period 3.1 g).

Fifteen of the 16 cancer patients were labourers. For normal subjects of different ages and both sexes (n=290) and ingesting arsenic-polluted water (0.60 ppm), the relationship between mean age and mean arsenic dose is expressed by a weighted least square polynomial regression, of second degree: β(y) = β_o + β₁ ^t + β₂ ^{t 2} where y is mean arsenic dose (mg/person/day) and t is mean age (years). For the general male population and for male labourers, the respective equations are presented.