[Asbestos screening of autopsy material]

This study was designed to provide basic data on the deposition of asbestos in human tissue in an urban area (Hamburg) with increased immission rates of fibres. The analysis of the unselected autopsy cases was carried out by light microscopy counting the typical asbestos bodies (method: wet digestion of tissue and filter technique). -

a) The average concentration of asbestos bodies (AB) per ccm lung tissue (n = 80) amounts to 35 AB/ccm (men 38 AB/ccm, females 15 AB/ccm). b) Asbestos bodies could be found regularly in extrapulmonary tissues (n = 20, up to 13 different tissue samples per case), most frequently in lymph nodes, thyroid gland and spleen. c) Lungs of children in the age of 7 to 16 years (n = 40) showed asbestos bodies in 35% of the examined cases (with a range from 3 to 31 AB/ccm lung tissue).