A study to evaluate asbestos fiber burden in lung and pleural malignancies

There is scarcity of data on asbestos fiber burden in lung and pleural malignancies.

To evaluate asbestos fiber burden in biopsy samples of suspected lung and pleural malignancies.

This was a single-centre, observational study.

From August 2010 to July 2010.

Department of Pulmonary Medicine, CSMMU, UP, Lucknow, a tertiary care hospital in India.

Suspected cases of lung and pleural malignancy.

Biopsy tissues taken by computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy, bronchoscopic biopsy, and pleural biopsy by Cope's needle were analyzed for histopathology and asbestos burden by Haq et al.'s method.

20 patients were studied. Mean fiber burden was 9.25 × 10 4 fibers/g. Average burden in lung malignancies (11 patients) was 9.178 × 10 4 fibers/g and in pleural tissue (9 patients) was 9.332 × 10 4fibers/g. Among the different cell types, mean fiber burden in squamous cell carcinoma was 8.99 × 10 4 fibers/g, in adenocarcinoma was 9.71 × 10 4 fibers/g, and in small cell carcinoma was 7.54 × 10 4 fibers/g. Mean fiber burden in bronchoscopic endobronchial biopsy tissue was 10.69 × 10 4 fibers/g, while in CT-guided biopsy was 8.60× 10 4fibers/g.

Maximum number of fibers was found in adenocarcinoma.