[Workers in contact with asbestos: follow-up patterns].

Exposure to asbestos is associated with the development of benign and malign pleuropulmonary pathology. In recent years a broad set of regulations has been set in place, from the establishment of conditions in work involving exposure to asbestos to successive prohibitions on its use. Periodical medical checkups have been designed to detect these pathologies in exposed workers and, considering the long period of latency, they should also be carried out on retired workers or on those who in the past have suffered such exposure.