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3086887 
Journal Article 
BIOMONITORING AFTER EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS-FIBER DUST - LIGHT-MICROSCOPY AS AGAINST ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY 
Woitowitz, HJ; Rodelsperger, K; Bodeker, H; Bruckel, B; Gosch, V 
1991 
0 
Arbeitsmedizin, Sozialmedizin, Präventivmedizin
ISSN: 0300-581X 
26 
6 
219-224 
WOS:A1991FR42000002 
The basic prerequisite for an application of pulmonary dust fiber analysis in proceedings for declaratory appraisal with regard to occupational diseases caused by asbestos is the evaluation of the upper limits of normal ranges. The effects of recently published suggestions of this kind both on the result of light microscopic counting of ferruginous bodies (FB) and on the results of asbestos fiber analysis in the analytical scanning transmission electron microscope (ASTEM) is to be examined for the application in proceedings for declaratory appraisal for occupational diseases caused by asbestos.



Both the light microscopic FB concentration and the concentration of asbestos fibers with a length L greater-than-or-equal-to 5 mu-m per gram of dried lung (gtr) in the ASTEM were measured in n = 109 patients with and without indications of an exposure to asbestos-fiber dust at the workplace. In the n = 109 double analyses on identical specimens of lung tissue, there is a linear correlation between the concentration of asbestos fibers and FB in the double logarithmic representation apart from "axis cases". However, there is a variation by about the factor 1:50. With the upper limits of the normal range of 3,000 FB/gtr or 300,000 asbestos fibers L greater-than-or-equal-to 5-mu-g/gtr as a criterion for the presence or absence of an indication of a relevant exposure to asbestos-fiber dust, there are 66 patients without and 25 with such indications ("correct negative") with consistent results for both methods. Only six patients are classified as "false positive" (specificity = 92%) and 12 as "false negative" (sensitivity = 68%) on the basis of the FB analysis. Furthermore, the occupational medical history and technical safety grouping in- to the two extreme danger