Key Fact - Mesothelioma

By Decree No. 2012-47 of January 16, 2012, mesothelioma was added to the official list of notifiable diseases (DO). This reporting requirement is implemented by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) at the request of the Ministry of Health. It is one of the measures of the "2009-2013" Cancer Plan, which aims in particular to improve the surveillance of cancers linked to the occupational environment (Action 9.1). Any new case of mesothelioma, regardless of its anatomical location (pleura, peritoneum, pericardium, etc.), must now be reported to the physician at the Regional Health Agency (ARS) by any physician (pathologist or clinician) practicing in metropolitan France or overseas territories who makes the diagnosis.

The mandatory reporting of mesotheliomas is primarily intended to advance knowledge: to better track the number of cases occurring in the country, their characteristics, and to better understand their possible link to non-occupational exposure to asbestos. To this end, environmental investigations will be conducted when no occupational exposure has been identified. Three specific populations, for whom the cause of the disease may be explained by non-occupational exposure to asbestos, will then be investigated: women, those under 50 years of age, and mesotheliomas not localized to the pleura, particularly those of the peritoneum. The DO complements the surveillance provided by the National Program for the Surveillance of Pleural Mesotheliomas (PNSM) in 23 metropolitan departments, established in 1998. While the PNSM remains the benchmark, it does not allow for the monitoring of pleural mesotheliomas in departments not covered (70% of the population), nor of other sites of mesothelioma in the covered departments. It is important to note that the DO in no way replaces the occupational disease reporting system.