Asbestos in lung tissue

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos in lung tissue, by V.L. Roggli (Chest, 1990).

The study

• Author: V.L. Roggli
• Journal: Chest
• Published: 1990;97(6):1501-2
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 003651).

In plain English

This item is a letter to the editor, not a research study. The author commented on a 1989 Chest article by Kishimoto et al that compared asbestos bodies in lung tissue from 400 autopsied cases with pleural plaques. Kishimoto et al had treated 500 asbestos bodies per 5 g of wet lung tissue as the level identifying asbestos exposure. The author wrote that in the author's laboratory, 100 asbestos bodies per 5 g was the upper limit in the general population of Houston, Texas and Durham, North Carolina, and that results vary considerably between laboratories. The author cited an earlier group of 25 consecutive pleural plaque cases in which 44 percent had counts below 100 per 5 g. The author also noted 151 malignancies among Kishimoto et al's 329 cases below 500 per 5 g. The author called the nine mesotheliomas undoubtedly asbestos related, and called links between asbestos and colon, liver, pancreatic or duodenal cancer or leukemia tenuous and controversial. The author concluded that an elevated asbestos body count alone cannot establish cause and effect.

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 commenting on another published study (Kishimoto et al, Chest 1989)
• Who was studied: No new population was studied. The letter discussed Kishimoto et al's 400 autopsied cases. It also cited 25 consecutive pleural plaque cases studied earlier in the author's group, and general-population values from the author's laboratory in Houston, Texas and Durham, North Carolina.
• Exposure: Asbestos body counts in lung tissue (per 5 g of lung tissue). No fiber types were named.
• Main results:
  • The author stated that in the author's laboratory, 100 asbestos bodies per 5 g is the upper limit of values found in the general population of Houston, Texas and Durham, North Carolina.
  • The author stated that asbestos body results vary considerably from one laboratory to another, even when the same samples are analyzed.
  • Kishimoto et al reported that in all 71 of their cases with more than 500 asbestos bodies per 5 g, pleural plaques were probably or definitely present on chest films and some type of plaque was present at autopsy. By contrast, in 25 consecutive pleural plaque cases studied by the author's group, counts were below 100 asbestos bodies per 5 g in 44 percent.
  • The author noted that published radiographic-pathologic comparisons show plain films markedly underestimate pleural plaques found at autopsy. The author therefore considered it quite likely that some of Kishimoto et al's 329 cases below 500 asbestos bodies per 5 g had plaques.
  • The author pointed out 151 malignancies among Kishimoto et al's 329 cases with fewer than 500 asbestos bodies per 5 g.
  • The author described the nine mesothelioma cases as undoubtedly asbestos related. The author said asbestos causation was harder to determine for lung cancer, because smoking is an important confounding factor.
  • The author described the association of asbestos exposure with colon, liver, pancreatic or duodenal cancer or leukemia as tenuous and controversial.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that investigators should establish their own normal range rather than rely on a single published value. The author also concluded that cause and effect cannot be established merely by finding an elevated tissue asbestos body content, and that the 49 malignancies with 500 or more asbestos bodies per 5 g are unlikely all to be asbestos-induced.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Asbestos content of lung tissue in asbestos associated diseases: a study of 110 cases — V.L. Roggli, P.C. Pratt, et al. (1986)
• Numbers of asbestos bodies on iron-stained tissue sections in relation to asbestos body counts in lung tissue digests — V.L. Roggli, P.C. Pratt (1983)
• Perls' Prussian Blue Stains of Lung Tissue, Bronchoalveolar Lavage, and Sputum — A.J. Ghio, V.L. Roggli (2021)
• Biopersistence of refractory ceramic fiber in human lung tissue and a 20-year follow-up of radiographic pleural changes in workers — J.E. Lockey, V.L. Roggli, et al. (2012)
• Beryllium detection in human lung tissue using electron probe X-ray microanalysis — K.J. Butnor, T.A. Sporn, et al. (2003)
• Asbestos body concentrations in human lung: predictions from asbestos body counts in tissue sections with a mathematical model — R.T. Vollmer, V.L. Roggli (1985)

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