Prevalence of "asbestos" bodies in human lungs at necropsy

Our plain-English summary of Prevalence of "asbestos" bodies in human lungs at necropsy, by T.E. Dicke, B. Naylor (Diseases of the Chest, 1969).

The study

• Authors: T.E. Dicke, B. Naylor
• Journal: Diseases of the Chest
• Published: 1969;56(2):122-5
• Cited by: 14 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Scrapings and sections of lungs and hilar lymph nodes from 100 necropsies of residents of the state of Michigan were examined for "asbestos" bodies. Lungs from 18 cases, and hilar lymph nodes from four cases yielded positive findings. In one case in which the lung scrapings were negative, the scrapings of hilar lymph node were positive. In only four of the 19 positive cases were "asbestos" bodies seen in the sections of lung tissue. The lung scrape technique achieves maximum positive results in the detection of "asbestos" bodies when upper and lower lobes of both lungs are scraped. Upper and lower lobes of lungs can be expected to yield about the same number of "asbestos" bodies. None of the subjects had manifested pulmonary asbestosis during life. Their occupational and environmental histories were quite varied; in general, they did not point to a history of exposure to asbestos.

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

In plain English

This autopsy study from the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor examined lungs and hilar lymph nodes from 100 Michigan residents aged 16 to 88 (66 men, 34 women) for "asbestos" bodies. These are coated fibers, and the authors put the term in quotation marks because they questioned whether the cores are always asbestos. The authors scraped each of the five lung lobes and both hilar lymph nodes, and they also examined stained tissue sections. Asbestos bodies were found in 19 of the 100 people: 18 by lung scrapings and one only in a lymph node. That was 15 of 66 men (23 percent) and 4 of 34 women (12 percent). Tissue sections showed them in only 4 of the 19 positive cases. Upper and lower lobes yielded similar totals (242 and 235 bodies). No subject had clinical asbestosis or mesothelioma, and their work histories generally did not point to asbestos exposure. The authors concluded that scraping finds the bodies more efficiently than sections and works best when upper and lower lobes of both lungs are scraped. They called the method crude and said the identity of the central fiber was the crucial problem.

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: Autopsy (necropsy) prevalence study using lung and lymph node scrapings and tissue sections
• Who was studied: 100 people autopsied at The University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, as far as possible consecutive. They were aged 16 to 88 years (66 men, 34 women), and all were residents of the state of Michigan at death. About half lived in the greater Detroit area. The study dates are not given.
• Exposure: Presence of "asbestos" bodies (coated fibers) in lung tissue was the measure. No fiber type was identified. Occupational and environmental histories were varied and in general did not indicate asbestos exposure.
• Main results:
  • "Asbestos" bodies were found in material from 19 of the 100 subjects: 18 by lung scrapings, plus one case positive only in hilar lymph node scrapings.
  • Men: 15 of 66 (23 percent) were positive, highest in the 60-69 year group (38 percent).
  • Women: 4 of 34 (12 percent) were positive.
  • Stained tissue sections showed "asbestos" bodies in only 4 of the 19 positive cases, in none of the 81 scraping-negative cases, and in no hilar lymph node sections.
  • Upper lobes and lower lobes yielded almost the same total number of bodies: 242 and 235 respectively.
  • Examining only the lower lobes would have missed four positive cases; examining only the upper lobes would have missed one.
  • Seven of 49 subjects from the greater Detroit area (14 percent) were positive, compared with 24 percent from the rest of the state.
  • There were no cases of clinical asbestosis or mesothelioma. Significant diffuse pulmonary fibrosis was not significantly different between positive and negative cases.
  • The prevalence found was lower than in any other similar study the authors listed.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that scraping the cut surface of unfixed lungs finds "asbestos" bodies more efficiently than routine tissue sections, and that it gives maximum results when upper and lower lobes of both lungs are scraped.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The lung scrape method is a crude sampling method with many variables.
  • The various scraping studies were not done identically, so they are not strictly comparable.
  • It is uncertain whether the fibrous cores of "asbestos" bodies are always asbestos; the identity of the central fiber was not established.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Autopsy, Hilar Lymph Nodes, Asbestosis.

Related studies

• Asbestos bodies and pleural plaques in human lungs at necropsy — I. Hägerstrand, B. Seifert (1973)
• Asbestos bodies in human lungs at autopsy — D. Cauna, R.S. Totten, et al. (1965)
• Asbestos bodies in lungs at necropsy — G.H. Roberts (1967)
• Prevalence of obstructive lung disease in a general population: relation to occupational title and exposure to some airborne agents — P.S. Bakke, V. Baste, et al. (1991)
• Predicting Long-Term Asbestos Prevalence in Human Lungs, Lymph Nodes, and Remote Organs from Short-Term Murine Experiments — A. DeStefano, C. Martin, et al. (2021)
• Asbestos bodies in lung parenchyma in relation to ingestion and inhalation of mineral fibers — O. Auerbach, E.C. Hammond, et al. (1977)

Browse more research in Diseases of the Chest, or return to medical research.