High-resolution CT in the diagnosis of asbestos-related pleuroparenchymal disease

Our plain-English summary of High-resolution CT in the diagnosis of asbestos-related pleuroparenchymal disease, by G. Gamsu (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1989).

The study

• Author: G. Gamsu
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1989;16(2):115-7
• Type of article: Editorial
• 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. 000084).

Summary of the article

This editorial reviewed the use of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in diagnosing asbestos-related lung and pleural disease, drawing on published and in-press studies. HRCT used thin sections (1-1.5 mm) and high-resolution reconstruction to show lung and pleural detail. In a study of 100 occupationally exposed individuals, HRCT was abnormal in 43 of 45 with clinical asbestosis and in 34 of 35 with abnormal chest radiographs. HRCT findings highly probable for asbestosis were also seen in 28 of 65 subjects with normal radiographs. These findings did not correlate with smoking or airflow obstruction but did correlate with lung restriction. In another study of 169 exposed workers with normal radiographs, the 57 with HRCT strongly suggestive of asbestosis had lower lung volumes and diffusing capacity than the 76 with normal or near-normal HRCT. The two groups had similar exposure, latency and smoking history. HRCT was more sensitive than radiographs for pleural plaques and calcification. Masses were found incidentally in about 10% of exposed workers, and most were benign. The author stated that asbestosis is several thousand times more common than idiopathic interstitial fibrosis in exposed individuals. He noted that HRCT costs about the same as a four-view chest radiograph series. He concluded that HRCT could be used in equivocal cases or could become a sensitive routine standard for detecting and quantifying pneumoconiosis.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This 1989 article was an editorial, not a new study, and it reported no original data. The author discussed published research on high-resolution CT (HRCT) scanning of the lungs and pleura in workers occupationally exposed to asbestos. Several of the cited studies were co-written by the author. The editorial reported that Aberle et al. found HRCT abnormalities in 43 of 45 people with clinical asbestosis. The same study found findings highly probable for asbestosis in 28 of 65 people whose chest X-rays were normal. It reported that Staples et al. studied 169 exposed workers with normal chest X-rays. Those with HRCT strongly suggestive of asbestosis (57) had significantly lower lung volumes and diffusing capacity than those with normal or near-normal HRCT (76). The editorial also described HRCT as more sensitive than chest X-rays for detecting pleural plaques and pleural calcification. The author stated that the specificity of HRCT for asbestosis must be considered, and that a study comparing HRCT with tissue confirmation awaited publication. The author concluded that HRCT could be used in problem or equivocal cases and could become a sensitive routine standard for detecting pneumoconiosis.

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: editorial (commentary discussing other published studies; no original data)
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The editorial discussed published HRCT studies of occupationally asbestos-exposed people, including 100 individuals (Aberle et al.) and 169 individuals with normal chest radiographs (Staples et al.)
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure (no fiber types named). The imaging technique discussed was high-resolution CT using thin CT sections
• Main results:
  • As reported from Aberle et al. [1988a]: 43 of 45 patients with clinical asbestosis had abnormalities on HRCT
  • As reported from Aberle et al. [1988a]: among individuals with an abnormal chest radiograph compatible with pneumoconiosis, HRCT was abnormal in 34 of 35
  • As reported from Aberle et al. [1988a]: HRCT findings highly probable for asbestosis were found in 28 of 65 subjects with normal chest radiographs
  • As reported from Aberle et al. [1988a]: HRCT abnormalities showed no correlation with smoking history or airflow obstruction, but a significant correlation with functional measures of lung restriction
  • As reported from Staples et al. (in press): among 169 exposed individuals with normal chest radiographs, the 57 with HRCT strongly suggestive of asbestosis had significantly lower lung volumes and diffusing capacity than the 76 with normal or near-normal HRCT
  • As reported from Aberle et al. [1988a]: HRCT was more sensitive than chest radiographs in detecting pleural plaques and pleural calcification
  • As reported from Lynch et al. [1988]: masses incidentally detected on HRCT in asbestos-exposed workers had an incidence of about 10% (printed 'lo%' in the scan). Most were benign masses of rounded atelectasis or benign subpleural cicatricial masses related to diffuse pleural thickening
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that HRCT can be used selectively in problem or equivocal cases, and could also become a sensitive routine standard for detecting and quantifying pneumoconiosis in exposed individuals
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the specificity of HRCT for diagnosing asbestosis must be considered
  • The author noted that a study correlating HRCT with histologic (tissue) confirmation of asbestosis had not yet been published

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: High-Resolution CT (HRCT), Chest X-Ray, Obstructive Lung Disease, Diffusing Capacity (DLCO), Latency, Pleural Plaques, Idiopathic, Interstitial Fibrosis.

Related studies

• Conventional and high resolution computed tomography in the diagnosis of asbestos-related diseases — D.A. Lynch, G. Gamsu, et al. (1989)
• High-resolution CT of benign asbestos-related diseases: clinical and radiographic correlation — D.R. Aberle, G. Gamsu, et al. (1988)
• High-resolution computed tomography of asbestos-related diseases — D.R. Aberle (1991)
• Asbestos-related disease: progression of parenchymal abnormalities on high-resolution CT — C.I. Silva, N.L. Müller, et al. (2008)
• Asbestos-related pleural and parenchymal fibrosis: detection with high-resolution CT — D.R. Aberle, G. Gamsu, et al. (1988)
• Asbestos-related focal lung masses: manifestations on conventional and high-resolution CT scans — D.A. Lynch, G. Gamsu, et al. (1988)

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