The attribution of lung cancers to asbestos exposure: a pathologic study of 924 unselected cases.
We studied a series of 924 nonselected surgical cases of lung carcinoma (without occupational history in clinical records) by histologic examination and light microscopic determination of asbestos body (AB) concentration to determine cancers attributable to asbestos exposure. Lower lobes showed higher concentrations, but no significant associations were recorded between concentrations and histologic type of the lung carcinomas. Histologic asbestosis was demonstrated in 56 cases considered definitely asbestos-related. In 12 of them, the demonstration of asbestosis was attained only after repeated examination of additional sections, suggested by thefinding of more than 1,000 ABs per gram of dry weight (gdw), an indicator of occupational asbestos exposure. In the 56 cases, the media
Mollo
Franco
F
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Turin University, Italy.
Magnani
Corrado
C
Bo
Patrizia
P
Burlo
Paola
P
Cravello
Maurizio
M
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001194:Asbestos / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001195:Asbestosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence
D000393:Air Pollutants; D002273:Carcinogens; D001194:Asbestos