American Review of Respiratory Disease - Abstracts

Our plain-English summary of American Review of Respiratory Disease - Abstracts, by G.S. Davis, J.N. Landis, A.R. Brody, et al (1976).

The study

• Authors: G.S. Davis, J.N. Landis, A.R. Brody, G.M. Green, J. Wagoner, J.E. Doherty, J. Gammill, J. Sherwood
• Published: American Review of Respiratory Disease P.166
  Abstract 1: Changes in Repeat Pulmonary Lavage Differential Cell Counts as a Reflection of Inflammatory Disease Activity
  G.S. Davis, J.N. Landis, A.R. Brody, G.M. Green.
  Abstract 2: Radioactive Cholesterol Turnover in Cholesterol Pleural Effusion
  J. Wagoner, J.E. Doherty, J. Gammill, J. Sherwood. (1976)
• Type of article: Abstract
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This journal page holds two separate meeting abstracts. Neither mentions asbestos. In the first, Davis and colleagues in Burlington, Vermont, repeated lung washing (lavage) in 7 patients within 3 to 11 months: 5 had active diffuse interstitial lung disease (DILD), 1 had chronic purulent bronchitis, and 1 had both. In 4 steroid-treated patients with DILD who improved, the lymphocyte share of lavage cells fell from 28.02 to 6.36 percent on average. It stayed at 17 percent in an unchanged patient and rose from 24 to 31 percent in a patient who worsened. In 2 patients whose sputum cleared, white cell (PMN) shares fell from 67 and 33 percent to 4 and 0.3 percent. The authors reported that these changes paralleled clinical activity in all cases. In the second, Wagoner and colleagues in Little Rock gave radioactive cholesterol by mouth to a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and a cholesterol-rich pleural effusion, and compared a patient with a chronic effusion of unknown cause. Radioactivity in the effusion leveled off at 50 days versus 24 days. The authors suggested delayed cholesterol transport and a static effusion.

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.

What the study did and found

• Design: Two meeting abstracts: (1) a small case series of repeat pulmonary lavage; (2) a radioactive tracer study in two patients
• Who was studied: Abstract 1 (Burlington, Vermont): 7 patients (5 with active DILD, 1 with chronic purulent bronchitis, 1 with both), compared with 13 normal volunteers and control patients. Abstract 2 (Veterans Administration Hospital and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock): one patient with rheumatoid arthritis and a chronic cholesterol pleural effusion, compared with one patient with a chronic pleural effusion of unknown cause
• Exposure: No asbestos or fiber exposure is studied. Abstract 2 used 50 microcuries of radioactive (14C) cholesterol given by mouth. Abstract 1 used steroid treatment in some patients
• Main results:
  • In the 13 normal volunteers and control patients, lavage cells were (mean plus or minus SE) 1.08 plus or minus 0.27% PMNs, 5.65 plus or minus 0.70% lymphocytes and 93.27 plus or minus 0.74% macrophages
  • In 4 DILD patients treated with steroids who improved, lavage lymphocyte fractions fell from 28.02 plus or minus 14.53% to 6.36 plus or minus 2.41%, an average decline to 36% of the initial value
  • One patient with no clinical change over 5 months despite steroids had 17% lymphocytes in both lavages. In one patient whose symptoms progressed over 3 months despite steroids, lymphocytes rose from 24 to 31%
  • In 2 patients whose purulent sputum had cleared by the repeat study, lavage PMN fractions fell from 67 and 33% to 4 and 0.3% respectively
  • Abstract 2: in the cholesterol effusion the fluid's cholesterol content was 2,660 mg/dl (supernate 201 mg/dl). In the comparison effusion it was 65 mg/dl, and no crystals were seen
  • Abstract 2: radioactivity in the effusion reached a plateau at 24 days in the chronic effusion and at 50 days in the cholesterol effusion. The pleural fluid T values (symbol partly damaged in scanning) were 50 and 60 days respectively
• The authors' conclusion: Abstract 1: the authors stated that changes in lavage differential cell counts paralleled clinical activity in all cases. Abstract 2: the authors stated that there appears to be delayed cholesterol transport in cholesterol effusion, which would suggest a static effusion that allows crystalline cholesterol to accumulate

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Interstitial Lung Disease, Sputum, Pleural Effusion.

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