ASBESTOS EXPOSURE AND OVARIAN FIBER BURDEN

Epidemiologic studies suggest increased risk of epithelial ovarian can cer in female asbestos workers and increased risk of malignancy in gen eral in household contacts of asbestos workers. Ovaries were studied f rom 13 women with household contact with men with documented asbestos exposure and from 17 women undergoing incidental oophorectomy. Ovarian tissue was examined by analytic electron microscopy. Significant asbe stos fiber burdens were detected in 9 out of 13 women with household a sbestos exposure (69.2%), and in 6 out of 17 women who gave no exposur e history (35%). Three exposed women had asbestos counts over 1 millio n fibers per gram wet weight (23%), but only 1/17 women without an exp osure history had a count that high (6%). Although asbestos has been d ocumented as a contaminant of some older cosmetic talc preparations, t he chrysotile and crocidolite types of asbestos we detected are more i ndicative of background and/or occupational exposure. This study demon strates that asbestos can reach the ovary. Although the number of subj ects is small, asbestos appears to be present in ovarian tissue more f requently and in higher amounts in women with a documentable exposure history. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.