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Vol.49 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- The 23rd Lung Cancer Mass Screening Seminar -
Pathological Evaluation of Exposure to Asbestos
Kenzo Hiroshima1, Toshikazu Yusa2, Yasushi Shinohara31Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan, 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Chiba Rosai Hospital, Japan, 3Work Environment Research Group, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan
Background. Retained fiber levels of over 1,000 asbestos bodies per gram of dry lung tissue are recommended to identify persons with a high probability of exposure to asbestos dust at work. A 2-fold risk of lung cancer is related to retained fiber levels of 5,000 to 15,000 asbestos bodies per gram of dry lung tissue. Methods. We counted the asbestos bodies in paraffin-embedded sections of lung tissues stained for iron, and compared those numbers with the asbestos body counts determined by hypochlorite digestion of wet formalin-fixed lung tissue in cases with asbestos-related lung carcinoma, mesothelioma, usual interstitial pneumonia, and asbestosis. Results. There is a relationship of the numbers of asbestos bodies on tissue sections to the number measured by a tissue digestion technique. The patients are heavily exposed to asbestos if the number of asbestos bodies on tissue sections is equal to or more than 7. Conclusion. The presence of one or more than one asbestos body on tissue sections means the existence of higher levels of exposure to asbestos than average persons. The patients are considered to have been heavily exposed to asbestos if the number of asbestos bodies on tissue sections is equal to or more than 7. There are cases in which the number of asbestos bodies on tissue sections is zero, although they were exposed to asbestos. We must be cautious about evaluating the level of asbestos exposure, when the numbers of asbestos bodies on tissue are low.
key words: Asbestos, Asbestos body, Lung carcinoma, Mesothelioma, Asbestosis
JJLC 49 (1): 48-57, 2009
