PLEURAL MESOTHELIOMA AND EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS - EVALUATION FROM WORK HISTORIES AND ANALYSIS OF ASBESTOS BODIES IN BRONCHOALVEOLAR LAVAGE FLUID OR LUNG-TISSUE IN 131 PATIENTS

Exposure to asbestos was evaluated in 131 patients with pleural malign ant mesothelioma in the Paris area between 1986 and 1992 using data fr om a detailed specific questionnaire and light microscopy analysis of the retention of asbestos bodies in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid or lu ng tissue. Probable or definite exposure to significant levels of asbe stos dust was identified in only 48 (36.6%) subjects, and significant asbestos body counts (above 1 asbestos body/ml in bronchoalveolar lava ge fluid or 1000 asbestos bodies/g of dry lung tissue) were found in o nly 45 (34.3%) subjects. Overall 50 subjects had experienced exposure to only low levels of asbestos or no exposure at all and showed no sig nificant retention of asbestos bodies in the biological sample analyse d. Previous studies have shown that light microscopy may be useful in the identification of subjects with previous exposure to asbestos. In this study, apart from cases with obvious exposure to asbestos, a larg e group of subjects seemed to have a history of exposure or lung reten tion of asbestos bodies suggestive of very low levels of cumulative ex posure, similar to those described in the general population.