Hyaline splenic and hepatic plaques. Correlation with cirrhosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and asbestos exposure

Nine hundred twenty-five unselected autopsies were investigated for the presence or absence of hyaline peritoneal (splenic or hepatic) plaques, hyaline pleural plaques, asbestos, liver cirrhosis, heart failure, previous peritoneal dialysis or abdominal surgery, chronic peritonitis, splenomegaly, splenic infarcts, and pulmonary or abdominal tuberculosis. Lung asbestos body concentrations were calculated in 570 subjects. Peritoneal plaques were recorded in 163 cases. In both univariate and multivariate analyses, they were associated with cirrhosis, pulmonary nonactive tuberculosis, pleural plaques, and asbestosis. Association with asbestos body counts was also found, with a significant trend. Peritoneal plaques were described long ago in different pathologic conditions, for some of which (cirrhosis and nonactive pulmonary tuberculosis) the association is confirmed by the present analysis. It is suggested that they are significantly associated, moreover, with indicators of asbestos exposure.