Chest
Clinical InvestigationsPresence of Asbestos Bodies in Organs Other than the Lung
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
Our plan was to confine the study to autopsies of persons whose lungs were likely to contain a large number of asbestos bodies. With this in mind, we reviewed the records of all autopsies performed by one of us (A.S.C.) at Somerset Medical Center, Somerville, NJ, during 1970 and selected all of the cases in which asbestosis or mesothelioma had been recorded in the final diagnosis. Since many people in the area worked in an asbestos factory (and asbestos workers often develop pleural plaques),
Lung
Two different analyses were made, one confined to definite asbestos bodies and another in which no distinction was made between definite and probable asbestos bodies. Except for absolute numbers, the two analyses yielded essentially the same results. Therefore, to save space and to be on the conservative side, we have confined this report to “definite” asbestos bodies.
Many definite asbestos bodies were found in each of the specimens of pulmonary tissue from the 19 subjects with asbestosis (TMTC
Discussion
One should not draw too-sweeping conclusions from findings in so few as 37 subjects, all of whom came to autopsy in the same hospital and many of whom had worked in an asbestos factory in which chrysotile was the principal type of asbestos used. Nevertheless, the findings strongly suggest that when people have such a degree of exposure to asbestos dust that a great many asbestos bodies are formed in the lungs, then asbestos bodies are very likely to be present in one or several other organs as
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Cited by (112)
Journey to the centre of the lung. The perspective of a mineralogist on the carcinogenic effects of mineral fibres in the lungs
2023, Journal of Hazardous MaterialsCitation Excerpt :“Asbestos” bodies have been observed in the pleural cavity (e.g. Pascolo et al., 2016), but it is impossible to know whether they were formed there or are a product of translocation from the lungs or other organs, with or without the carrier of macrophages. Translocation of “asbestos” bodies to organs other than the lungs has been widely reported in the literature (Auerbach et al., 1980). They have been reported in hilar and mediastinal nodes, in lymphatics, in the spleen, abdominal walls and in the peritoneum (Godwin and Jagatic, 1970).
Asbestos fibre burden in gallbladder: A case study
2018, MicronCitation Excerpt :The relationships between asbestos fibres and severe diseases of the respiratory system (e.g., mesothelioma, asbestosis, and pulmonary carcinoma) are now universally accepted (Auerbach et al., 1980; Baumann et al., 2015; Ehrlich et al., 1985; Huang et al., 1988; Muller et al., 2001; Szendröi et al., 1983; Westlake, 1965; Williams et al., 2001).
Risk of cancer associated with residential exposure to asbestos insulation: a whole-population cohort study
2017, The Lancet Public HealthCitation Excerpt :We did not expect to find a raised risk of prostate cancer in our study. Asbestos fibres have been noted in the prostate,21 and increased risks of prostate cancer were reported in a study of Finnish construction workers in an asbestos screening programme22 and in a cohort study of former residents of the crocidolite mining town of Wittenoom, WA, Australia.23 However, these elevated rates might have been attributable to ascertainment bias, with exposed men perhaps more likely to have been screened for prostate cancer than unexposed men.
Airways microbiota: Hidden Trojan horses in asbestos exposed individuals?
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Colorectal Cancer: 35 Cases in Asbestos-Exposed Workers
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2023, Current Environmental Health Reports
Manuscript received March 28; revision accepted May 8