Detection o asbestos in asbestos bodies

Our plain-English summary of Detection o asbestos in asbestos bodies, by P.R. Peacock (Lancet, 1968).

The study

• Author: P.R. Peacock
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 1968;1(7552):1153-4
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a short letter to The Lancet describing a laboratory method, with no patient series or numerical results. The author was responding to a call by Dr. Selikoff, at the Second International Conference on the Biological Effects of Asbestos (Dresden, April 1968), for better ways to recognise and identify asbestos fibres inside asbestos bodies. Brief bursts of ultrasonic waves, applied to a microscope slide, broke asbestos bodies apart and exposed their fibrous cores. These cores could then be examined for heat resistance, insolubility in water and optical properties. The author stated that the method could be used on fluid squeezed from lungs at autopsy, on thick blood films, and on frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue sections, stained or unstained. The author noted three problems: the timing of the ultrasound involved an element of chance, fully freed fibres could no longer be matched to particular asbestos bodies and could be lost, and traces of mounting medium could cause confusion. The author concluded that the technique should prove useful in retrospective studies of asbestosis cases associated with mesothelioma. No fiber types or case counts were reported.

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 describing a laboratory method (qualitative observations only; no patient series or numerical results)
• Who was studied: No study population. The method was described as applicable to lung fluid obtained at autopsy, thick blood films, and frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue sections. No number of cases was given.
• Main results:
  • The author described what is seen after well-timed ultrasound: some asbestos bodies are partly broken up but still identifiable, with bare fibres sticking out of them. Under polarised light these fibres show birefringence, and yellow or blue pleochroism depending on their orientation.
  • The author stated that previous staining of the tissue does not interfere with showing asbestos fibres by this method.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the technique should prove useful in retrospective studies of cases of asbestosis associated with mesothelioma, and in routine examination of smears and sputa in which asbestos bodies are found.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author noted that getting the timing of the ultrasound right involves an element of chance.
  • Once fibres are completely freed, they can no longer be matched to particular asbestos bodies. They may be lost if the ultrasound is applied for more than a few seconds.
  • Even traces of mounting medium can cause confusion, because they contain pleochroic crystals. With some resins these crystals increase as the section ages.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Bodies.

Related studies

• 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)
• The ultrastructure of asbestos bodies from guinea-pig lungs — J.M. Davis (1964)
• Sectioning and imaging hard mineral fibres in biological tissues — N.F. Johnson, K. Ibe (1981)
• A novel system for the culture of human lung: lung development and the response to injury — M.T. Hsu, M. Dimaio, et al. (1992)
• Techniques for microscopic detection of asbestos bodies in lung tissue — P. Bradbury (2005)
• Asbestos bodies, their formation, composition and character — F.D. Pooley (1972)

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