Ferruginous (abestos) bodies and primary carcinoma of the colon

Our plain-English summary of Ferruginous (abestos) bodies and primary carcinoma of the colon, by P. Rosen, A. Savino, M. Melamed (American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1974).

The study

• Authors: P. Rosen, A. Savino, M. Melamed
• Journal: American Journal of Clinical Pathology
• Published: 1974;61(1):135-8
• Cited by: 10 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. 001286).

Abstract

There is considerable evidence that asbestos may contribute to the development of mesothelioma and pulmonary carcinoma. It has also been suggested that asbestos could participate in the genesis of colonic carcinoma. In this study we sought to isolate ferruginous (asbestos) bodies from 21 specimens of bowel. The majority were from patients with primary carcinoma of the colon. No true ferruginous (asbestos) bodies were recovered. The significance of these results is discussed. (Key words: Ferruginous bodies; Asbestos; Carcinoma; Large intestine; Colon.)

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This was a laboratory pathology study. The authors looked for ferruginous (asbestos) bodies, fibers coated with an iron-protein complex, in 21 bowel specimens from 16 adult patients, most of whom had carcinoma of the colon. The article does not report the patients' asbestos exposure. Five-gram samples of normal bowel next to the tumor were chemically digested, filtered and examined. No typical ferruginous bodies were found in any specimen. Structures the authors call "atypical ferruginous bodies" were found in eleven specimens from eight patients. Counts ranged from zero to 171 per 5-gram sample, and most of these specimens came from the right side of the large bowel. Some specimens came from patients without carcinoma, but the authors judged it unnecessary to study additional non-cancerous specimens as controls. The authors concluded that failing to find asbestos bodies in the 19 colon specimens does not mean asbestos cannot contribute to intestinal cancer. They explained that chrysotile breaks down into tiny fibrils in acid, that such fragments are unlikely to become coated, and that coated bodies may not form in colon tissue at all. They said electron microscopy would be more appropriate.

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: Laboratory pathology study: chemical digestion and filtration of bowel tissue to look for ferruginous (asbestos) bodies by light microscopy
• Who was studied: 21 bowel specimens from 16 adult patients (seven women, nine men, aged 50 to 77), most with colonic carcinoma. Table 1 also lists patients with other diagnoses, including infarction, inflammation and adenoma. 19 specimens were from the colon and 2 from the ileum. The authors worked in the Department of Pathology, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, New York.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure histories were reported for the patients. The study measured ferruginous (asbestos) bodies, meaning fibers encrusted with an iron-protein complex, in 5-gram samples of full-thickness normal bowel next to the tumor, digested in sodium hypochlorite.
• Main results:
  • No typical ferruginous bodies were found in any of the specimens.
  • "Atypical ferruginous bodies" were found in eleven specimens from eight patients.
  • Numbers of atypical bodies ranged from zero to 171 per 5-gram sample.
  • Most specimens containing atypical bodies came from the right side of the large bowel.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their failure to find a single asbestos body in the 19 colon specimens does not mean asbestos cannot contribute to intestinal neoplasia. They called for electron microscopic investigation for submicroscopic fibrils in human intestinal tissue.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Chrysotile, which the authors describe as the main commercial and environmental type, is readily broken down in acid into submicroscopic fibrils that are unlikely to become coated, so it would not be seen as ferruginous bodies.
  • Ferruginous bodies may not form in colon tissue, so they may not be suitable markers of asbestos exposure there. The authors said electron microscopy would be more appropriate.
  • Although some specimens came from patients without carcinoma, the authors did not study additional non-cancerous specimens as controls. They considered this unnecessary because of the negative results in cancer-containing colons.
  • The authors said the significance of the atypical ferruginous bodies is unknown; they could come from endogenous or exogenous sources and may be unrelated to any disease process.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Asbestos bodies in carcinoma of colon in an insulation worker with asbestosis — A. Ehrlich, A.N. Rohl, et al. (1985)
• Squamous cell carcinoma of the colon in an asbestos worker — P.B. Goodfellow, S.R. Brown, et al. (1999)
• Primary Peritoneal Low-grade Serous Carcinoma in a Patient With Lynch Syndrome: A Case Report — S. Makiuchi, H. Yoshida, et al. (2020)
• Technique for the systematic examination of colon--rectum specimens — R.R. Rickert (1974)
• Ferruginous bodies in benign fibrous pleural plaques — P. Rosen, P. Gordon, et al. (1973)
• Colon cancer, physical activity, and occupational exposures. A case-control study — M. Fredriksson, N.O. Bengtsson, et al. (1989)

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