Pulmonary Physiology: Its Application to the Determination of Respiratory Impairment and Disability in Industrial Lung Disease (1975)

This is a textbook chapter, not a research study, and it reports no new data. The author wrote it to explain to nonphysiologists, such as industrial physicians, internists, pathologists and epidemiologists, how industrial lung diseases disturb the three processes of gas exchange: ventilation, diffusion and blood flow (perfusion). Asbestosis appears among the examples. The chapter states that in diffusion fibroses all lung volumes tend to be smaller than predicted. When lungs become stiff and fibrotic, as it says frequently occurs in asbestosis, compliance is markedly reduced, and values of 0.04 liter per centimeter of water and less may be found. It adds that diffusing capacity is reduced in asbestosis and that arterial oxygen desaturation can result. It notes that pleural thickening may limit the bellows function of the lung. It warns that lesions in the small peripheral airways are unlikely to be detected by conventional lung function tests. On disability, the author wrote that breathlessness often correlates poorly with lung function tests and that its severity is not uncommonly exaggerated for compensation. The author also wrote that respiratory impairment and respiratory disability are not necessarily related. The author acknowledged the chapter would appear oversimplified to many readers.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 002864.

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.