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Clinics in Chest Medicine May 1981
Review
Topics: Asbestos; Asbestosis; Carcinoma, Bronchogenic; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Mesothelioma; Occupational Diseases; Peritoneal Neoplasms; Pleural Diseases; Pleural Neoplasms
PubMed: 7030603
DOI: No ID Found -
BMJ Case Reports Nov 2017We report for the first time asbestosis among ship-breaking workers of Sitakunda in Bangladesh who were exposed to asbestos during ship-based and beach-based operations...
We report for the first time asbestosis among ship-breaking workers of Sitakunda in Bangladesh who were exposed to asbestos during ship-based and beach-based operations for at least 10 years. Asbestosis was present among 35% of workers. Years of work (>20) and forced vital capacity (<80% of predicted) were significantly associated with the disease. Currently, global ship-breaking operations are mainly concentrated in the Indian subcontinent, and Bangladesh has the majority share. Ninety per cent of domestic steel is produced in the ship-breaking operations in Bangladesh and is an important contributor to the economy. It also gives employment to more than 100 000 people. It is imperative to medically check up all the workers for benign and malignant diseases causally related to asbestos among these vulnerable population of workers.
Topics: Adult; Asbestosis; Bangladesh; Dyspnea; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Pleural Diseases; Ships; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vital Capacity
PubMed: 29102973
DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2017-222154 -
Environmental Research Feb 1986It has been suggested that because chrysotile asbestos forms asbestos bodies poorly, use of the traditional histologic requirements (diffuse interstitial fibrosis plus...
It has been suggested that because chrysotile asbestos forms asbestos bodies poorly, use of the traditional histologic requirements (diffuse interstitial fibrosis plus asbestos bodies) for the diagnosis of asbestosis, may lead to an underdiagnosis of this condition in workers exposed only to chrysotile. We examined lungs from 25 chrysotile miners with diffuse interstitial fibrosis. Asbestos bodies were found easily in histologic section using hematoxylin and eosin stains in all cases. Mineralogic analysis of four cases showed that 46 of 72 (64%) bodies isolated and examined contained chrysotile cores, and 21 of 72 (29%) bodies contained cores of the amphiboles tremolite and actinolite. By contrast, tremolite and actinolite constituted the majority of uncoated fibers in these cases. The mean length for bodies formed on chrysotile was 35 micron, and for bodies formed on tremolite or actinolite, 36 micron. We conclude that (1) the usual histologic criteria for the diagnosis of asbestos are applicable to chrysotile-exposed workers; (2) in workers with occupational chrysotile exposure, bodies form readily on this mineral; and (3) asbestos bodies in these lungs reflect the presence of long asbestos fibers.
Topics: Asbestos; Asbestos, Serpentine; Asbestosis; Humans; Lung; Staining and Labeling
PubMed: 2417833
DOI: 10.1016/s0013-9351(86)80024-x -
The New England Journal of Medicine May 1974
Topics: Aged; Asbestosis; Biopsy; Humans; Lung; Male; Middle Aged; Pleural Effusion; Pleurisy
PubMed: 4818905
DOI: 10.1056/NEJM197405022901818 -
IARC Scientific Publications 1980Annual chest radiographs, work history and mortality of 1,973 workers in an asbestos-cement factory were correlated with age and with duration and level of dust...
Annual chest radiographs, work history and mortality of 1,973 workers in an asbestos-cement factory were correlated with age and with duration and level of dust exposure. Degree of radiographic lung change was significantly related to fibre-years of exposure in the case of small lung opacities, pleural adhesions and pleural thickening. For 29 cases of asbestosis diagnosed between 1963 and 1977, a highly significant dose-response relationship was found. In comparison with national mortality rates, there was an excess of deaths due to cancer of the gastrointestinal tract, although there was no relationship to fibre-years.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Asbestos; Asbestosis; Belgium; Humans; Lung; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases; Pleura; Radiography; Time Factors
PubMed: 7228335
DOI: No ID Found -
Arhiv Za Higijenu Rada I Toksikologiju Jun 2009Inhalation of asbestos fibres leads to asbestosis of the pleura and the lung, with possible progression to lung cancer and malignant pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma....
Inhalation of asbestos fibres leads to asbestosis of the pleura and the lung, with possible progression to lung cancer and malignant pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma. Asbestosis remains difficult to diagnose, especially in its early stages. The most important role in its diagnosis is that of chest radiographs. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to address interobserver variations in interpreting chest radiographs in asbestos workers, which remain to be an issue, despite improvements in the International Labour Office (ILO) classification system. In our ten-year study, we investigated 318 workers occupationally exposed to asbestos, and in 210 workers with diagnosed asbestos-related changes we compared interpretations of chest radiographs according to ILO by two independent radiologists. The apparent degree of interobserver variation in classifying lung fibrosis was 26.66% for the diameter of changes and 42.2% for the profusion of the changes. In cases with diffuse pleural thickening, the interobserver variation using ILO procedures was 34.93%. This investigation raises the issue of standardisation and objectivity of interpretation of asbestosis according to the ILO classification system. This study has revealed a significant disagreement in the estimated degree of pleural and parenchymal asbestos pulmonary disease. This is why we believe high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) should also be used as a part of international classification.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Asbestosis; Female; Humans; Lung; Male; Middle Aged; Observer Variation; Radiography
PubMed: 19581213
DOI: 10.2478/10004-1254-60-2009-1904 -
American Journal of Respiratory and... Apr 2002The authors report the case of a 65-year-old accountant whose only asbestos exposure was during a summer job 50 years earlier in a California vermiculite expansion...
The authors report the case of a 65-year-old accountant whose only asbestos exposure was during a summer job 50 years earlier in a California vermiculite expansion plant. Vermiculite is a silicate material that is useful in building and agriculture as a filler and insulating agent. He developed extensive fibrocalcific pleural plaques and end-stage pulmonary fibrosis, with rapidly progressive respiratory failure. Careful occupational and environmental history revealed no other source of asbestos exposure, and the initial clinical diagnosis was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; open lung biopsy shortly before his death confirmed asbestosis. Electron microscopic lung fiber burden analysis revealed over 8,000,000 asbestos fibers per gram dry lung, 68% of which were tremolite asbestos. Additional asbestiform fibers of composition not matching any of the standard asbestos varieties were also present at over 5,000,000 fibers per gram dry lung. Comparison analysis of a sample of Libby, Montana, vermiculite showed a similar mix of asbestiform fibers including tremolite asbestos. This case analysis raises several concerns: risks of vermiculite induced disease among former workers of the more than 200 expansion plants throughout the United States; health effects of brief but very high-intensity exposures to asbestos; and possible health effects in end-users of consumer products containing vermiculite.
Topics: Aged; Aluminum Silicates; Asbestosis; Humans; Lung; Male; Occupational Exposure; Radiography; Time Factors
PubMed: 11956059
DOI: 10.1164/ajrccm.165.8.2110034 -
LARC Medical Nov 1982
Topics: Acute Disease; Aged; Asbestosis; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Radiography
PubMed: 7166992
DOI: No ID Found -
Ultrastructural Pathology 2016Asbestos is universally recognized as a carcinogen for the lower respiratory tract. However, asbestos is a contributory factor in a small fraction of lung cancers, the...
Asbestos is universally recognized as a carcinogen for the lower respiratory tract. However, asbestos is a contributory factor in a small fraction of lung cancers, the vast majority of which are related to cigarette smoking. The challenge for the pathologist is to determine when a lung cancer may be attributed to past asbestos exposure. The finding of asbestosis either clinically or pathologically is a useful marker for such a determination. However, in the absence of asbestosis, it has been suggested that a fiber burden as determined by analytical electron microscopy within the range of asbestosis is sufficient for determination of a causal contribution. We report here an example of a case of lung cancer in which fiber burden studies showed an asbestos concentration within the range of asbestosis as determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Aged; Asbestosis; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission
PubMed: 27043967
DOI: 10.3109/01913123.2016.1154915 -
American Journal of Industrial Medicine Nov 1997Matthew Stewart, Professor of Pathology at Leeds University, developed an interest in asbestosis during the late 1920s. In 1929, the Medical Research Council (MRC),...
Matthew Stewart, Professor of Pathology at Leeds University, developed an interest in asbestosis during the late 1920s. In 1929, the Medical Research Council (MRC), encouraged by an advisory committee, funded research into asbestosis at Leeds University. Stewart supported by physicians designed a program of clinical, radiological and physiological studies to follow up Merewether's affected asbestos workers. Unfortunately, this met with opposition from industry, and the Home Office Factory Department was reluctant to assist, so it was abandoned. Industry did, however, cooperate with Stewart's studies on the effects of exposing guinea pigs in the factory environment, but this led to little in the way of publication. The failure of the Leeds School to realize its potential in investigating the effects of asbestos in humans, results in part from the discouragement it received and in part from the limited time and energies available to persons with a wide range of active interests. Some 45 years were to elapse before the MRC were enabled to carry out an analysis of the clinical, radiological and physiological data of a population of asbestos workers.
Topics: Asbestosis; England; History, 20th Century; Humans; Occupational Medicine; Pathology
PubMed: 9327084
DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199711)32:5<562::aid-ajim20>3.0.co;2-#