Asbestos-related pleural disease

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related pleural disease, by S.A. Geller, F.P.F. Campos (Autopsy & Case Reports, 2013).

The study

• Authors: S.A. Geller, F.P.F. Campos
• Journal: Autopsy & Case Reports
• Published: 2013;3(2):59-61
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This was an "Image in focus" piece: one autopsy photograph with educational commentary, not a research study. The image showed asbestos plaques on the right parietal pleura (the lining of the chest wall) of a 58-year-old former shipyard worker who died of acute suppurative bronchitis. He also had cor pulmonale (enlargement of the right side of the heart) and congestive heart failure. Under the microscope, his lungs showed pulmonary interstitial fibrosis with asbestos bodies, and the plaques were made mostly of dense collagen. The authors noted that some plaques in the image followed the rib pattern while others had merged into larger plaques. The article did not name the type of asbestos fiber he was exposed to. His physician was Irving Selikoff. The rest of the article was a general overview, with a bibliography, of asbestos history, fiber types, pleural plaques, benign pleural effusions, asbestosis and lung cancer risk. It did not report new findings on these topics. The authors closed by commenting that asbestos-related disease showed signs of abating in the developed world but was increasing in developing countries.

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: Single-case autopsy image report ("Image in focus") with general educational background commentary that cites a bibliography
• Who was studied: One 58-year-old former shipyard worker examined at autopsy, whose physician was Irving Selikoff; no place or date of death given
• Exposure: Work in a shipyard (former shipyard worker); fiber type, products and dose not stated
• Main results:
  • In this patient, asbestos plaques were present on the right parietal pleura
  • The patient died of acute suppurative bronchitis and also had cor pulmonale and congestive heart failure
  • Microscopic examination of this patient showed pulmonary interstitial fibrosis with asbestos bodies
  • This patient's pleural plaques consisted mainly of dense collagen
  • In the image, some plaques were small and followed the rib pattern, sparing the spaces between the ribs, while others had grown and merged into larger plaques
• The authors' conclusion: The authors drew no conclusion from the case itself. They closed with a general comment that asbestos-related disease showed signs of abating in the developed world but was increasing in developing countries.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos-Related Pleural Disease.

Related studies

• Asbestos-related diseases of the lung and other organs: their epidemiology and implications for clinical practice — M.R. Becklake (1976)
• Diagnosis and initial management of nonmalignant diseases related to asbestos — American Thoracic Society (2004)
• The worldwide pandemic of asbestos-related diseases — L. Stayner, L.S. Welch, et al. (2013)
• Ecological association between asbestos-related diseases and historical asbestos consumption: an international analysis — R.T. Lin, K. Takahashi, et al. (2007)
• Mass and number of fibres in the pathogenesis of asbestos-related lung disease in rats — J.M. Davis, S.T. Beckett, et al. (1978)
• High-resolution CT of benign asbestos-related diseases: clinical and radiographic correlation — D.R. Aberle, G. Gamsu, et al. (1988)

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