Technique for the systematic examination of colon--rectum specimens

Our plain-English summary of Technique for the systematic examination of colon--rectum specimens, by R.R. Rickert (Environmental Health Perspectives, 1974).

The study

• Author: R.R. Rickert
• Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Published: 1974;9:237
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This one-page 1974 commentary described a laboratory method for examining whole colon and rectum specimens. It reported no results from any patient group. The author explained that studying a possible link between asbestos exposure and colon-rectum cancer should consider not only cancer but also possibly precancerous growths, such as adenomas (adenomatous polyps), which may be small, multiple and cause no symptoms. In the method, specimens already fixed in formalin were examined by eye. Visible lesions were mapped on a standard form and removed. The rest of the bowel was processed whole, embedded in paraffin and cut at 1 cm intervals, giving about 250 microscopic sections for each total colon-rectum specimen. The technique was adapted from a method developed at the Ochsner Foundation Clinic. It had been used for about two years at the East Orange (New Jersey) Veterans Administration Hospital on specimens from unselected autopsies and from colon and rectal cancer surgery. The author suggested the approach may help compare asbestos-exposed patients with control groups. The author also noted that tissue would remain available for electron microscopic and mineral analyses.

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: commentary describing a pathology laboratory technique (no study data reported)
• Who was studied: No study population was reported. The technique had been applied for about two years, in the laboratory of Dr. Oscar Auerbach at the East Orange (New Jersey) Veterans Administration Hospital, to total colon-rectum specimens from unselected autopsies and to surgical specimens from patients with colon and rectal cancer. No numbers of specimens were given.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was measured or studied. The author proposed using the technique to compare patients exposed to asbestos with appropriate control groups.
• Main results:
  • Description of the method, not a finding: after visible lesions were removed, the remaining bowel was processed whole, embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 1 cm intervals.
  • Description of the method, not a finding: each total colon-rectum specimen yielded approximately 250 microscopic sections for examination.
  • Because the whole specimen is used, the author noted that tissue is also available for later electron microscopic and mineralogical analyses.
• The authors' conclusion: The author stated that this approach may be helpful in comparing the colon and rectum of asbestos-exposed patients with control groups, so that lesions which might come before cancer could be studied.

Related studies

• Ferruginous (abestos) bodies and primary carcinoma of the colon — P. Rosen, A. Savino, et al. (1974)
• Occupational Asbestos Exposure and Incidence of Colon and Rectal Cancers in French Men: The Asbestos-Related Diseases Cohort (ARDCo-Nut) — C. Paris, I. Thaon, et al. (2017)
• Asbestos induces aberrant crypt foci in the colon of rats — D.E. Corpet, V. Pirot, et al. (1993)
• Interpretation of pleural biopsy specimens and aspirates with the immunoperoxidase technique — A. Herbert, P.J. Gallagher (1982)
• X-ray evidence of increased asbestos exposure in the US population from NHANES I and NHANES II, 1973-1978. National Health Examination Survey — W.J. Rogan, N.B. Ragan, et al. (2000)
• Napsin A and thyroid transcription factor-1 expression in carcinomas of the lung, breast, pancreas, colon, kidney, thyroid, and malignant mesothelioma — J.A. Bishop, R. Sharma, et al. (2010)

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