[Chronic pleuropathy due to asbestos and malignant mesothelioma of the pleura: a differential diagnosis not always easy. A case report].

A case of long-lasting chronic asbestos pleuritis is described. Radiological picture was initially that of an exudative pleuritis and subsequently that of pleural thickening associated to chronic pleural effusion. Cytological findings were suggestive for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Diagnosis was made only at autopsy. In absence of a sure histological diagnosis, the differential diagnosis of the two diseases (chronic asbestos pleuritis and malignant pleural mesothelioma) is not easy, so that necropsy retains a fundamental role in patients without a certain diagnosis in vita.