[Digestion method for detection of ferruginous bodies in human tissues from autopsy cases]

We compared three sodium hypochlorite digestion methods and two potassium hydroxide digestion methods for detection of ferruginous bodies in human tissues. The following results were obtained. 1. Methods using sodium hypochlorite were effective for digestion of lung tissue samples, but only in part for greater omentum tissue samples. The potassium hydroxide digestion method worked well for preparation of lung and greater omentum tissue samples. 2. Results obtained by the different digestion methods were compared by Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U-test. No significant difference was detected in concentrations of ferruginous bodies and naked fibers in samples of lung, and tumor and normal tissues of the greater omentum among the digestion methods. 3. A more simplified procedure for sample processing with potassium hydroxide digestion was recommended for detection of ferruginous bodies in human tissues.