Pulmonary asbestosis: CT study of subpleural curvilinear shadow. Work in progress

High-resolution computed tomographic scans of 19 patients with pulmonary asbestosis revealed a subpleural curvilinear shadow (SCLS) parallel to the inner chest wall in the lungs of 15 (78.9%) patients. Most (46.7%) SCLS measured greater than 5 cm but less than 10 cm in length and occurred less than 1 cm from the inner chest wall in all cases. SCLS was distributed mainly in the lower lobe in patients with mild pulmonary fibrosis and in segments where fibrosis was mild in patients with honeycomb shadows. This may reflect initiation of pulmonary fibrosis leading to the formation of a honeycomb shadow. Radiologic-pathologic correlation, achieved in one postmortem specimen, seemed to indicate that SCLS was associated with the initial change of fibrosing bronchioloalveolitis, which is characteristic of pulmonary asbestosis.

NK cell activity in asbestosis

Natural killer (NK) cell activity was studied in 40 asbestos workers with chest roentgenographic signs of asbestosis and 54 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. NK cell activity in asbestosis was 32.3 +/- 18.2%, significantly higher than that in healthy controls (17.4 +/- 12.2%). We also examined the relationship between NK cell activity and the duration of exposure, and that between NK cell activity and the ILO U/C classification of radiographs. NK cell activity tended to decrease relatively in the presence of lung cancer.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma with widespread metastasis and pulmonary cancer

An autopsy case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) with widespread metastases and lung carcinoma in a 64-year-old Japanese woman is reported. The initial signs were cough and sputum, followed by hemosputum. A chest X-ray photo showed a right pleural tumor, which could not be identified from a biopsy specimen, but was identified as MFH by light and electron microscopic studies on biopsy specimens of tongue tumors. Autopsy examination revealed metastases of the MFH to the brain, lung, liver, kidney, adrenal, pancreas, retroperitoneum, and some bones, and pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

Frequent isolation of Propionibacterium acnes from sarcoidosis lymph nodes

Isolation of Propionibacterium acnes from biopsied lymph nodes of sarcoidosis patients and from the lymph nodes or other tissues of non-sarcoidosis patients was carried out, carefully avoiding contamination by skin-resident P. acnes. Out of 40 sarcoidosis lymph nodes examined, 31 nodes (77.5%) showed a positive culture of P. acnes, while 38 of 180 (21.1%) non-sarcoidosis tissues revealed positive results, the difference being significant (p less than 0.001). Among non-sarcoidosis tissues, the intra-thoracic lymph nodes demonstrated a positive culture in low percentages, while intra-abdominal lymph nodes indicated no positive culture. The possible role of this microorganism in the etiology of sarcoidosis is discussed.