Asbestos-Cement Dust Lung (Translation)

This was a case report of one man, N., who died at 68 after 27 years of exposure to asbestos-cement dust. At a small six-worker shop he spent almost all his working time in the room where asbestos-cement panels were cut. Analysis of the workplace dust found 75% cement, 20% hornblende asbestos and 5% talcum. During his life a lung specialist diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis, though no tubercle bacilli were found, and his illness was not recognized for compensation. At autopsy, scarring in the right upper lobe contained no asbestos needles and no tubercles. The left upper lobe contained asbestos needles and asbestos particles; both lower lobes contained asbestos needles and asbestosis particles, sometimes surrounded by foreign-body granulomas. No talcum crystals were found in the lung tissue under polarized light. The authors concluded that the cement and the asbestos each produced their own recognizable lung changes side by side, rather than one new reaction, and proposed calling such dust a "mixed dust". They noted it is difficult to call findings characteristic on the basis of two cases, theirs and Doerr's earlier cement-dust case. After his death, the obligation to compensate was recognized because asbestosis was covered by law.

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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 this piece 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.