More on Benzene-Induced Myelodysplastic Syndrome
This was a case study I found on a man who had worked in a petrochemical plant for many years. His job was mixing benzene in a process that created a substance called caprolactam. The Caprolactam is used to make Nylon and Plastic. After about 15 years working in this plant he developed Leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. This finding lead to bone marrow tests that found myelodysplastic syndrome. This man (at the time of this article) was out of work at home still suffering from some symptoms of the myelodysplastic syndrome.
The typical time period of exposure for benzene induced leukemia is generally accepted as 1 to 15 years or so. It can be longer, but this is the general time frame.
Myelodysplasia is the step in the cancer process that comes before aplastic anemia and acute myelogenous leukemia. Not every case starts this way and progresses through the three diseases, but this is something that is seen.
One of the more interesting comments in this article was that the link between Aplastic Anemia and benzene has been seen "since the end of the 19th century". Late 1800s, more than a hundred years.
