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Some investigations into the nature and cause of Massive Fibrosis (MF) in the lungs of South African gold, coal, and asbestos mine workers
Author(s) -
Leibowitz M. C.,
Goldstein B.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700120203
Subject(s) - pneumoconiosis , medicine , asbestos , pathology , fibrosis , lung , lesion , pulmonary fibrosis , asbestosis , metallurgy , materials science
Samples from fibrotic lung lesions greater than 1 cm in diameter macroscopically (by definition, massive fibrosis; MF) were taken from the lungs of 9 randomly selected postmortem cases of mine workers all showing a background of a pneumoconiosis. These samples were studied histologically, biochemically, and by X‐ray diffraction and electron microscopy. As controls for the biochemical and X‐ray diffraction investigations, non‐fibrosed lung tissue was taken from the same specimens. The findings suggest that the higher quartz content may be the primary cause responsible for the MF formation in this series of cases, while other factors such as tuberculosis may play a part according to some relevant literature on MF. Although an area of MF appears macroscopically to be a solid lesion, on microscopy this is not the case and the lesion is composed of dense and sparse collagen bundles and cellular elements.