ASBESTOS BODIES IN LUNG-TISSUE FOLLOWING EXPOSURE TO CROCIDOLITE

A series of 206 necropsies in Western Australia (WA) have had routine counts made of asbestos bodies in samples of lung tissue using convent ional light microscopy. Thirty-two cases had worked in the asbestos in dustry at Wittenoom, WA and (log) counts of asbestos bodies in their l ung tissue correlated well with estimates of their (log) cumulative ai rborne exposure to crocidolite fibers (r = 0.60). There was no associa tion between the number of asbestos bodies and time since exposure to asbestos ceased. In subjects without known exposure to asbestos, there was a weak but nonsignificant increase in number of asbestos bodies w ith increasing age, with 26% of cases having no asbestos bodies presen t. It is concluded that the relatively simple technique of light micro scopy for counting of asbestos bodies in lung tissue provides a reliab le indication of the level of past occupational exposure to crocidolit e in subjects whose exposure has been only to crocidolite. This could be extremely useful in follow-up studies of cohorts that lack reliable measures of airborne exposure to crocidolite asbestos. (C) 1995 Wiley -Liss, Inc.