Pulmonary Fibrosis (Section 2), in Organ Involvement in Asbestos-related Disease

This text is a review, not an original study. It is the pulmonary fibrosis section of a book chapter by Leslie Preger, 'Organ Involvement in Asbestos-related Disease', and it draws on published reports and animal experiments. The author described lung scarring from asbestos as usually more marked in the lower zones of the lungs, unlike scarring from silica and coal dust, and said no single theory explained this difference. The author described amosite and crocidolite as more fibrogenic than chrysotile and anthophyllite, and fibers wider than about 3 micrometres as unlikely to reach the air sacs. Studies cited by the author reported antinuclear antibodies in 25 percent of asbestos patients and found, in 326 household contacts of amosite asbestos workers, 36 percent with asbestos-type changes and 4 people with pleural mesothelioma. The author concluded that asbestos probably does not act directly on scar-forming cells but works through macrophages. The author cautioned that animal data may mislead when applied to humans.

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From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. It is a copy from J-M's medical library.

We publish pages from a book for research and commentary: it shows what the medical literature in a leading asbestos company's own library said on the subject, and when. Our summary above is our own reading of it. The copyright stays with the publisher.