Asbestos-associated pulmonary disease

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-associated pulmonary disease, by K.L. Myrent (Diagnostic Cytopathology, 1986).

The study

• Author: K.L. Myrent
• Journal: Diagnostic Cytopathology
• Published: 1986;2(2):179
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001176).

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reported no data. The author, from the Cytology Department at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago, was responding to a 1985 paper by Dr. Greenberg on the cytology of asbestos-associated pulmonary disease. That paper had described difficulty diagnosing malignant mesothelioma by exfoliative fluid cytology. The author wrote that, in the experience of the author's laboratory, malignant mesothelioma could be diagnosed accurately from fluid cytology when specific criteria were used, without histochemical confirmation, although special stains could still augment or confirm a diagnosis. The criteria the author described included very large mesothelial cells (a point credited to Naylor), two-toned staining of cells, nuclear pleomorphism, mitotic figures, and "love clusters" in which cells embrace one another. In adenocarcinoma, cell borders were described as more individually defined. No counts or accuracy figures were given. In a published reply, Dr. Greenberg stated that there may be some overlap between adenocarcinoma and mesothelioma effusions. The reply said a definitive diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma is best made by light and electron microscopic examination of tumor tissue.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: letter to the editor, with a reply from the author of the original paper; opinion based on laboratory experience, no study data
• Who was studied: no study population; the letter drew on the unquantified experience of the author's cytology laboratory in Chicago
• Main results:
  • The letter responded to Dr. Greenberg's 1985 paper, which had reported difficulty diagnosing malignant mesothelioma by exfoliative fluid cytology
  • The author stated that special stains could still be used to support a diagnosis
  • Criterion described in the letter and credited to Naylor, not to the author: the presence of very large mesothelial cells
  • Criterion described by the author: two-toned staining, with a basophilic center and an eosinophilic periphery, suggests mesothelial origin
  • Criteria described by the author: nuclear pleomorphism and mitotic figures in mesothelial cells
  • Criterion described by the author: malignant mesothelial cells form "love clusters" in which cells embrace
  • Contrast described by the author: in adenocarcinoma, cell borders are more individually defined
  • In the reply, Dr. Greenberg stated there may be some overlap between malignant effusions of adenocarcinoma and mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The author's view was that, with specific criteria, malignant mesothelioma can be diagnosed accurately by fluid cytology. In the reply, Dr. Greenberg held that a definitive diagnosis is best made by light and electron microscopic examination of tumor tissue.

Related studies

• Crackles (rales) in the interstitial pulmonary diseases — G.R. Epler, C.B. Carrington, et al. (1978)
• Relative release of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist by alveolar macrophages. A study in asbestos-induced lung disease, sarcoidosis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — J.N. Kline, D.A. Schwartz, et al. (1993)
• Environmental fiber-induced pleuro-pulmonary diseases in an Anatolian village: an epidemiologic study — M. Artvinli, Y.I. Baris (1982)
• Chitotriosidase activity in sarcoidosis and some other pulmonary diseases — M. Tercelj, B. Salobir, et al. (2009)
• Common problems in asbestos-related pulmonary diseases — A.H. Rubin (1986)
• Cytopathology of asbestos-associated pulmonary disease — S.D. Greenberg (1985)

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