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Kido T, Morimoto Y, Yatera K, Ishimoto H, Ogoshi T, Oda K, Yamasaki K, Kawanami T, Shimajiri S, Mukae H. The utility of electron microscopy in detecting asbestos fibers and particles in BALF in diffuse lung diseases. BMC Pulm Med 2017; 17:71. [PMID: 28431523 PMCID: PMC5401470 DOI: 10.1186/s12890-017-0415-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2016] [Accepted: 04/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In patients with diffuse lung diseases, differentiating occupational lung diseases from other diseases is clinically important. However, the value of assessing asbestos and particles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in diffuse lung diseases by electron microscopy (EM) remains unclear. We evaluated the utility of EM in detecting asbestos fibers and particles in patients with diffuse lung diseases. Methods The BALF specimens of 107 patients with diffuse lung diseases were evaluated. First, detection of asbestos by EM and light microscopy (LM) were compared. Second, the detection of asbestos using surgically obtained lung tissues of 8 of 107 patients were compared with the results of EM and LM in BALF. Third, we compared the results of mineralogical components of particles in patients with (n = 48) and without (n = 59) a history of occupational exposure to inorganic dust. Results BALF asbestos were detected in 11 of 48 patients with a history of occupational exposure by EM; whereas asbestos as asbestos bodies (ABs) were detected in BALF in 4 of these 11 patients by LM. Eight of 107 patients in whom lung tissue samples were surgically obtained, EM detected BALF asbestos at a level of >1,000 fibers/ml in all three patients who had ABs in lung tissue samples by LM at a level of >1,000 fibers/g. The BALF asbestos concentration by EM and in lung tissue by LM were positively correlated. The particle fractions of iron and phosphorus were increased in patients with a history of occupational exposure and both correlated with a history of occupational exposure by a multiple regression analysis. Conclusions EM using BALF seemed to be superior to LM using BALF and displayed a similar sensitivity to LM using surgically-obtained lung tissue samples in the detection of asbestos. Our results also suggest that detection of elements, such as iron and phosphorus in particles, is useful for evaluating occupational exposure. We conclude that the detection of asbestos and iron and phosphorus in particles in BALF by EM is very useful for the evaluation of occupational exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takashi Kido
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan.
| | - Yasuo Morimoto
- Department of Occupational Pneumology, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Yatera
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Ishimoto
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Takaaki Ogoshi
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Keishi Oda
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Kei Yamasaki
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Toshinori Kawanami
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
| | - Shohei Shimajiri
- Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Mukae
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
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Falchi M, Donelli G, Paoletti L. Influence of particle size and chemical composition on efficiency of clearance mechanisms: electron microscopy studies on humans. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 1994; 102 Suppl 5:241-243. [PMID: 7882941 PMCID: PMC1567255 DOI: 10.1289/ehp.94102s5241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
This article compares the presence of solid particles in lung parenchyma samples collected from accident victims and in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid taken from patients diagnosed with pulmonary carcinoma. Analysis by electron microscopy showed differences in particle size between the two groups, which could be attributable both to differences in original particle size and to their solubility in the biological environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Falchi
- Department of Ultrastructures, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy
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Griffith DE, Garcia JG, Dodson RF, Levin JL, Kronenberg RS. Airflow obstruction in nonsmoking, asbestos- and mixed dust-exposed workers. Lung 1993; 171:213-24. [PMID: 8341088 DOI: 10.1007/bf00203721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Obstructive changes in small airways have been described in patients exposed to asbestos and other mineral dusts. The physiologic significance of these small airways abnormalities and their relationship to dust burden and alveolitis remain unclear. We performed bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in 30 nonsmoking and 30 age-matched smoking subjects, all with mild asbestos and mixed dust exposure, to determine if parameters of lung dust burden correlated with spirometric evidence of airflow obstruction. Seventeen of 30 nonsmoking subjects and 24 of 30 smoking subjects met spirometric criteria for airflow obstruction. There were significantly more obstructed subjects in both dust exposed groups (P < 0.05) than in an age-matched nondust exposed group. There was, however, no significant difference in the number of obstructed subjects between the smoking and nonsmoking groups. There was no correlation in either group between airflow obstruction and total or differential cell counts, ferruginous bodies, total asbestos fibers, or the percent of free silica in the particulate fraction recovered by BAL. We conclude that evidence of small airways obstruction occurs commonly in occupationally dust exposed subjects and appears to be related to dust exposure per se and not to alveolar inflammation or fiber retention, important factors in the development of alveolitis and interstitial lung disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- D E Griffith
- Department of Medicine, University of Texas Health Center, Tyler 75710
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Dumortier P, De Vuyst P, Strauss P, Yernault JC. Asbestos bodies in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of brake lining and asbestos cement workers. BRITISH JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE 1990; 47:91-98. [PMID: 2155652 PMCID: PMC1035107 DOI: 10.1136/oem.47.2.91] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Asbestos body (AB) concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage samples of 15 brake lining (BL) workers exposed only to chrysotile have been determined and compared with those from 44 asbestos cement (AC) workers extensively exposed to amphiboles. The mean AB concentrations (263 +/- 802 and 842 +/- 2086 AB/ml respectively) for those groups did not differ significantly but were much higher than those found in control groups. Analytical electron microscopy of asbestos body cores showed that in the BL group 95.6% were chrysotile fibres whereas in the AC group amphiboles accounted for 93.1%. The size characteristics of the central fibres differed for chrysotile and amphibole AB, the former being shorter and thinner. Examination of repeated bronchoalveolar lavage samples showed that the mechanisms of clearance of chrysotile fibres do not affect AB concentration for at least 10 months after cessation of exposure. It thus appears that routine counting of ABs in BAL allows the assessment of current or recent occupational exposures to asbestos. Exposures to chrysotile lead to AB concentrations comparable with those encountered in exposures to amphiboles.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Dumortier
- Chest Department, Erasme University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium
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