Asbestos and Lung Cancer

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos and Lung Cancer, by W.J. Williams (1965).

The study

• Author: W.J. Williams
• Published: 1965
• Type of article: Journal article
• 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 article, by W. Jones Williams of Cardiff, Wales, described a series of 52 American cases of asbestosis. The author studied the cases mainly from microscope slides and tissue blocks taken at autopsy, plus a few lung operations. Ten of the 52 (19.2%) had lung tumors. The author called this rate not statistically significant but said it approximated rates reported for Great Britain. With one exception, the ten tumor patients were over 40 years of age. Also with one exception, they had 12 or more years of exposure. Six were fabricators, three were process workers who extracted asbestos fibers from ore, and one was an asbestos miner. The tumors were squamous (three), anaplastic (three), adenocarcinoma (two), alveolar cell carcinoma (one) and mesothelioma of the pleura (one). Ten of the 52 cases also had tuberculosis, none of them with carcinoma. Six of 52 (11%) had silicosis. The article did not name the type of asbestos fiber. The author concluded that the tumor rate was similar to that reported in Britain.

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: Case series: a review of pathology material (histological slides and paraffin blocks, mostly from autopsies, a few from lung surgery) from American asbestosis cases
• Who was studied: 52 American cases of asbestosis; the material was gathered during an exchange fellowship in 1954-1955
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure; fiber type not stated. In the total series, where known, the cases were 33 fabricators (weavers, corders, spinners, insulating workers), nine process workers (extracting asbestos fibers from ore) and six asbestos miners. Exposure lasted from one to 50 years: 26 had less than 20 years and 17 had more.
• Main results:
  • Ten of the 52 asbestosis cases (19.2%) had lung tumors; the author described this as not statistically significant
  • With one exception, the ten tumor cases were over 40 years of age
  • Among the ten tumor cases: six fabricators, three process workers and one asbestos miner
  • With one exception, the tumor cases had 12 or more years of exposure
  • Tumor types in the ten cases: squamous three, anaplastic three, adenocarcinoma two, alveolar cell carcinoma one, mesothelioma of pleura one
  • Ten of the 52 cases (19.2%) had tuberculosis as well, all without carcinoma
  • Six of the 52 cases (11%) had silicosis
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the rate of malignant tumors among the 52 American asbestosis cases was similar to that reported in Britain

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Paraffin Block, Autopsy, Adenocarcinoma, Carcinoma, Mesothelioma, Pleura, Silicosis.

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