Residual Problems Relating to the Pneumoconioses

Our plain-English summary of Residual Problems Relating to the Pneumoconioses, by G.W.H. Schepers (1956).

The study

• Author: G.W.H. Schepers
• Published: The 8th Conference of McIntyre Research Foundation on Silicosis. October 22-24, 1956
• Type of article: Conference paper
• 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 1956 conference paper by the director of the Saranac Laboratory reviewed unsolved questions about the pneumoconioses, which the author proposed defining as any respiratory condition from inhaling unusual atmospheres created by technological change. It was not a single study. It covered naming, classification, causes, disease development, complications, disability, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, law and research, drawing mostly on silica, beryllium, coal and aluminum work. On asbestos, the author wrote that asbestos bodies in the air sacs may mean only that fibers were inhaled and engulfed by cells without entering lung tissue, so they are compatible with no asbestotic fibrosis. The author listed tremolite, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite and anthophyllite among minerals recovered from human lungs at the laboratory. The paper noted dilated airways are seen particularly often in asbestosis. It said a condition, apparently asbestosis (the scan cuts off the word), is followed by lung cancer often enough to be compensable in several countries. Experiments testing asbestos as a co-carcinogen with beryllium sulphate were described as under way, with no results given. The author concluded that many issues need further research.

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: Review and discussion paper read at a conference (not an original study)
• Exposure: The author proposed a broad definition covering any condition of the respiratory organs resulting from inhaling unusual atmospheric conditions created by technological changes, not only dusts. The paper discusses silica, beryllium, coal, iron, aluminum and asbestos, among others
• Main results:
  • The author stated that asbestos bodies in a lung alveolus may mean only that fibers were inhaled and phagocytosed without penetrating the lung parenchyma, so their presence is compatible with the absence of asbestotic fibrosis
  • Table II lists siliceous minerals recovered from human lungs at the Saranac Laboratory, including tremolite, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite and anthophyllite
  • Bronchiectasis and bronchiolectasia were described as seen particularly often in cases of asbestosis or when chronic tuberculosis has supervened
  • The author wrote that a condition, apparently asbestosis (the start of the word is lost in the scan), is followed by lung cancer in such a proportion of cases that it has become compensable in several countries
  • Experiments were described as under way to test iron oxide, quartz, amorphous submicron synthetic silica, asbestos and fiberglas dusts as co-carcinogens with beryllium sulphate. No results were reported
  • In Saranac Laboratory animal experiments, inhaled powdered aluminum hydrate prevented fibrosis in animals exposed to quartz dust for a year. The author noted that the quartz concentration was very high (about 700 million particles per cubic foot)
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that many questions about the causes, development, diagnosis, disability, prevention and treatment of the pneumoconioses remain unsolved and require further research
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the laboratory's observations on what happens after exposure stops were limited to single dusts under controlled conditions

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Saranac Laboratory, Asbestos Bodies, Fibrosis, Tremolite, Chrysotile, Amosite, Crocidolite, Anthophyllite.

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