Asbestosis and carcinoma of the lung; case report and review of the literature

Our plain-English summary of Asbestosis and carcinoma of the lung; case report and review of the literature, by J. Anderson, F.A. Campagna (Archives of Environmental Health, 1960).

The study

• Authors: J. Anderson, F.A. Campagna
• Journal: Archives of Environmental Health
• Published: 1960;1:27-32
• Cited by: 9 articles, 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. 001591).

In plain English

This 1960 article combined a case report with a review of the literature on asbestosis and lung carcinoma. The patient, a 52-year-old man, was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital in May 1958. For 30 years the patient had worked as an asbestos insulator, applying asbestos insulation to pipes and boilers without a protective mask. No fiber type was named. The patient had also smoked three packages of cigarettes daily for many years, stopping five years earlier. A lung biopsy showed typical asbestos bodies but no tumor in the tissue taken. The patient died on July 28, 1958. At autopsy, a large tumor arose from one of the bronchi of the right lung and had spread to the liver, kidneys and other organs. Asbestos bodies lay next to the carcinoma. The authors called this the 24th reported case with complete autopsy findings and said it conformed to earlier cases suggesting a relationship. They noted that the tumor's exact origin and type were unclear and that smoking might play a role. They asked that future cases record smoking.

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: case report of one patient with a review of the literature up to July 1, 1958
• Who was studied: one 52-year-old white man of Italian extraction, admitted to St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco, on May 8, 1958
• Exposure: 30 years of work as an asbestos insulator: cutting, molding and applying asbestos insulation to pipes, boilers, etc., with no protective mask; also considerable contact with Fiberglas; fiber type not stated. The patient had smoked three packages of cigarettes daily for many years, stopping five years before admission
• Main results:
  • The lung biopsy taken at thoracotomy showed typical asbestos bodies in the alveolar spaces and interstitial areas, with no evidence of neoplasm in the tissue received
  • The patient died on July 28, 1958
  • At autopsy, a large tumor mass around the right hilar area originated from one of the bronchi, with metastatic implants in the liver and kidneys and tumor in the peritoneum and other organs
  • On microscopy, the carcinoma cells resembled bronchial epithelial cells, and asbestos bodies lay adjacent to the areas of carcinoma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that this was the 24th reported case of asbestosis with lung carcinoma with complete autopsy findings. They said it conformed to previously described cases in which a relationship between the two diseases is intimated. They stated that final assessment of the relationship requires further reported cases with careful attention to other factors such as smoking.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The exact site of origin of the tumor could not be determined at autopsy. X-rays and bronchograms suggested the middle or lower lobe.
  • The histology (tumor type) was not clear-cut
  • The patient had been a heavy smoker. The authors stated that smoking or other carcinogenic agents could be responsible for the reported figures, might merely enhance a dangerous situation, or might have no relationship at all.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinoma.

Related studies

• Pulmonary endpoints (lung carcinomas and asbestosis) following inhalation exposure to asbestos — B.T. Mossman, M. Lippmann, et al. (2011)
• Carcinoma of the lung in asbestosis: report of two additional cases — K.M. Lynch, H.R. Pratt-Thomas (1955)
• Carcinoma and asbestosis of the lung; report of a case — T.K. Owen (1951)
• Expression of calretinin, thrombomodulin, keratin 5, and mesothelin in lung carcinomas of different types: an immunohistochemical analysis of 596 tumors in comparison with epithelioid mesotheliomas of the pleura — M. Miettinen, M. Sarlomo-Rikala (2003)
• Pseudomesotheliomatous carcinoma of the lung. A variant of peripheral lung cancer — T.R. Harwood, D.R. Gracey, et al. (1976)
• Environmental associations and histopathologic patterns of carcinoma of the lung: the challenge and dilemma in epidemiologic studies — J.C. Ives, P.A. Buffler, et al. (1983)

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