Pulmonary Asbestosis And Carcinoma: Report Of A Case With Necropsy Findings

Our plain-English summary of Pulmonary Asbestosis And Carcinoma: Report Of A Case With Necropsy Findings, by D.S. Egbert, A.J. Geiger (1936).

The study

• Authors: D.S. Egbert, A.J. Geiger
• Published: American Review Of Tuberculosis 34(1):143-150, July (1936)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 002952. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This is a case report from Yale University School of Medicine about one man, J. V., a 41-year-old Hungarian factory-hand admitted to the Tuberculosis Ward of New Haven Hospital on May 11, 1934. He had worked as a weaver in an asbestos factory for 18 years. The article does not name the fiber type. Two years before admission, changes at the factory greatly reduced the dust he breathed. He came in with long-standing breathlessness and cough and recent disabling back pain. No tuberculosis germs were found in 6 sputum samples. X-rays showed nodular shadows through both lungs and destructive bone lesions in the pelvis and lower spine. He died after ten days in hospital. At autopsy, scarring had sealed both pleural cavities, and lung fluid showed large numbers of asbestosis bodies. A carcinoma (a type of cancer) was traced to a branch of the bronchus of the left lower lobe and had spread to lymph nodes, an adrenal gland, muscle and bone. The authors called this apparently the first report of primary lung carcinoma with pulmonary asbestosis. They concluded that a role for inhaled asbestos in this cancer was plausible enough to be worth considering.

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 with necropsy (autopsy) findings
• Who was studied: One patient, J. V., a 41-year-old Hungarian factory-hand admitted to the Tuberculosis Ward of New Haven Hospital (Connecticut) on May 11, 1934, with long-standing breathlessness and cough and recent disabling back pain
• Exposure: Worked as a weaver in an asbestos factory continuously for 18 years. Factory changes about two years before admission greatly reduced the dust he was exposed to daily. No fiber type is named.
• Main results:
  • No tubercle bacilli were found in any of the 6 sputum specimens examined
  • X-rays showed a dense, nodular infiltration throughout both lung fields, and destructive bone lesions of the pelvis and lumbar spine typical of spread (metastatic) carcinoma
  • The patient died after ten days in hospital
  • At necropsy, both pleural cavities were completely obliterated by firm fibrous adhesions
  • Fluid scraped from the cut lung surfaces showed large numbers of typical asbestosis bodies. These bodies did not give a positive iron reaction.
  • A tumor mass of approximately 5 x 5 x 4 cm was found in the left lower lobe. The primary site was a large branch of the main bronchus of the left lower lobe, with carcinoma cells resembling submucosal bronchial glands.
  • The tumor had spread to the lungs and tracheobronchial lymph nodes, and also to the aortic lymph nodes, right adrenal gland, left external oblique abdominal muscle, bony pelvis, vertebrae and skull
  • Microscopy showed some diffuse fibrous thickening of the alveolar walls and much fibrous tissue around the bronchi and bronchioles
• The authors' conclusion: The authors considered this apparently the first report of primary lung carcinoma associated with pulmonary asbestosis. They concluded it seemed sufficiently plausible to be worth considering that the irritating effects of inhaled asbestos particles may have been a significant factor in this patient's primary lung cancer.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestosis, Carcinoma, Autopsy, Standing, Sputum, Bronchus.

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