Squamous cell carcinoma occurring in asbestosis of the lung

Our plain-English summary of Squamous cell carcinoma occurring in asbestosis of the lung, by R.J. Cureton (British Journal of Cancer, 1948).

The study

• Author: R.J. Cureton
• Journal: British Journal of Cancer
• Published: 1948;2(3):249-53
• Cited by: 9 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 002873).

In plain English

This 1948 article was a case report about one woman who had both lung cancer and asbestosis. She was 37 when she was admitted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in August 1945, and she died on September 17, 1945. From age 15 to 22 she had worked in a factory making asbestos pipe covers. Her aunt, who worked in the same factory, died of asbestosis at age 40. The article does not name the asbestos fiber type. At autopsy, a non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma was found in the bronchus to the left lower lobe. It had spread to the pericardium (the sac around the heart), the heart muscle, the liver and other organs. Asbestos bodies were found in both lungs, along with lower-lobe fibrosis. The author attributed marked scarring beneath the pleura to asbestosis rather than to the tumour. Part of the tumour formed gland-like structures. The author found no squamous metaplasia in many tissue samples. The author noted a latent period of fifteen to twenty-two years and described the patient's age as low for this tumour type. The author did not conclude that asbestosis caused the cancer, and wrote that the published literature left the question open.

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 (single autopsied case)
• Who was studied: One woman, aged 37, admitted on August 27, 1945, to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; she died on September 17, 1945, and was autopsied
• Exposure: Work in a factory making asbestos pipe covers from age 15 to 22 years (fiber type not stated)
• Main results:
  • The patient's aunt had worked in the same factory and died of asbestosis at age 40
  • In the patient, a non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma was found in the bronchus of the left lower lobe
  • In the patient, the tumour had spread into the pericardium and the heart muscle
  • In the patient, the tumour had spread to the liver
  • In the patient, the author attributed marked subpleural fibrosis to asbestosis, not to the tumour
  • In the patient's right lung, asbestos bodies and lower lobe fibrosis were present, with no tumour
  • In one section of the patient's tumour, the cells kept most squamous features but showed a tendency to form gland-like structures (acini)
  • No squamous metaplasia was found in the patient's tissue, although many tissue blocks were examined
  • The author noted a latent period of fifteen to twenty-two years between the patient's exposure and the development of the tumour
  • The author described the patient's age as low for a squamous tumour
• The authors' conclusion: The author did not conclude that asbestosis caused the cancer, and stated that the literature on the association between asbestosis and neoplasms left the question open

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

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