[Prevention programs for people exposed to asbestos: results of the ongoing activities]

Programs of prevention concerning the populations exposed or having been exposed to asbestos include on the one hand, specific programs of medical surveillance and on the other hand, interventions of primary prevention. The latter were essentially anti-smoking campaigns and chemo-prevention trials of lung cancer through taking of vitamin A derivatives. In the first part of this review, the results of the experiments of the medical follow, up organized in France and abroad will be shown. These studies allow particularly to appraise both the usual latency of appearance of lung pathologies due to asbestos and the contribution of thoracic scanography in their diagnosis. The interest of the new techniques, such as the autofluorescence fiberscopy, is tackled too. The studies on primary prevention, detailed in the second part, underline the necessity to stop of tobacco consumption among the smokers exposed to asbestos. Moreover, this study concludes that the chemo-prevention of lung cancer through vitamin A derivatives is not yet effective. Some general principles which may be useful to the setting up programs of prevention are put forward in conclusion.