Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:6.2.1.7 (BAL)
1,977 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The importance of non-malignant pleural fibrosis in asbestosis in relation to respiratory function is still open to debate because of the differing results obtained in studies of different population groups. In the present study we selected 50 subjects with occupational exposure to asbestos presenting mono- or bilateral pleural fibrosis at X-ray but without lung impairment. Each subject underwent bronchial lavage and ventilatory function tests. The subjects were divided into 4 groups on the basis of the degree of pleural alterations according to the ILO Classification of Pneumoconioses. The results revealed that the mean values of CV and FEV1 in each group were within physiological limits. Moreover, analysis of the type of lung function showed a normal situation in 64% and restricted function in 28% of the cases. The prevalence of the latter finding was not correlated to the severity of pleural fibrosis in the various groups. Also, comparison between severity of pleural fibrosis and number of asbestos bodies/ml of BAL liquid on the one hand and frequency of alveolitis on the other did not reveal any relationship. Therefore, the onset of pleural fibrosis appears to be independent of the quantity of inhaled asbestos fibres and due to different mechanisms from those leading to lung fibrosis. In practice, a correct interpretation of the presence of pleural fibrosis from a clinical and prognostic viewpoint also requires other investigations such as BAL and a complete respiratory function study.
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PMID:[Pleural fibrosis in asbestosis and ventilatory function: a study of 50 cases]. 163 Apr 6

Forty-eight male asbestos workers were studied with clinical interrogation and examination, chest radiograph, lung function, body box studies, blood gases at rest and after exercise, BAL and in 40 cases by CT scan. Mean age was 40:1 (+/- 5.2) and work exposure 18.1 (+/- 4.0) years. There were 52% smokers. We found rales in 93%. Lung functions and clinical picture were not related to smoking (FEV1 was lower). There was evidence of airway obstruction by FEV1/FVC% (58% as below 80%), bronchodilator improvement (18% as over 10%), Raw (45% as over 2 cm H2O/l/sec) or RV/TLC% (39.5% as above 40%). Arterial pO2 decreased (over 2 mm) on exercise in 18%. By ILO classification chest radiographs were up to 1/1 in 10 (21%) and 2/2 or above in 19 (40%). Pleural abnormalities were seen by X-ray in 20 (42%) and by CT Scan in 26 (54%). The scan was abnormal in 92%. Lung function was not related to radiographic ILO grading but was lower with abnormal CT scan. BAL revealed normal (or low) cell counts, fewer macrophages (35%) and more polymorphs (23%) and lymphocytes (29%) over values for controls reported earlier (8); only 9 (19%) showed high cell counts. Asbestos body count was high (28.4) and was unrelated to other abnormalities. In some departments asbestos (respirable) fibre load was high (mean 0.61 to 3.12: maximum 0.84 to 6.78). It is concluded that in a proportion, early asbestosis can be diagnosed by CT scanning and high asbestos body count in BAL.
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PMID:Evaluating computed tomography and broncho alveolar lavage in early diagnosis of pulmonary asbestosis. 166 75

Gallium lung scanning is widely used to evaluate pulmonary inflammation in patients with interstitial lung disease but has not previously been reported in crocidolite-exposed workers. In order to characterize the pulmonary inflammation caused by crocidolite inhalation, GLS and BAL findings were related to chest x-ray film changes graded according to the ILO classification of roentgenograms of pneumoconioses. In individuals with roentgenographic evidence of asbestosis (CXR greater than or equal to 1/0, n = 15), 13 had a positive GLS and 13 had an abnormal BAL. In asbestos-exposed individuals with equivocal chest x-ray film changes (CXR 0/1, n = 12), six had a positive GLS and six had BAL changes (both GLS and BAL abnormal in three). In individuals with a normal chest x-ray film (CXR 0/0 n = 8), two had a positive GLS and two BAL changes (both abnormal in 1). These data demonstrate that most subjects with crocidolite-induced asbestosis have an abnormal GLS and BAL. In addition, many individuals with asbestos exposure and equivocal or no chest x-ray film changes have an abnormal GLS and/or BAL, suggesting the presence of active subclinical pulmonary inflammation in these individuals.
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PMID:Gallium lung scanning and bronchoalveolar lavage in crocidolite-exposed workers. 254 51

Earlier studies have shown that only 60% of sheep exposed to a given chrysotile exposure developed asbestosis. Analyses of lung lavage (BAL) fibre content early in the disease showed that, despite identical injected doses, the subset of sheep with interstitial lung disease had significantly more fibre retention. To determine if the fibre retention preceded or followed early disease, 15 were exposed at 10 day intervals to 100 mg chrysotile by intratracheal injection. Animals were studied at three month intervals by chest radiograph (CR) and BAL. At month 15, 10 sheep had definitely abnormal CR (group B) and five had normal CR (group A). Fibre analyses of BAL reproduced earlier finding of a higher level of fibre retention early in the disease, month 15: 92 +/- 2 f/microliter in group B v 35 +/- 19 in group A. Moreover, at month 3, when no disease was detectable, group B already had a significantly higher fibre retention level: 84 +/- 2 in group B v 52 +/- 3 in group A (p less than 0.05). These data clearly imply that high alveolar dust retention precedes the disease process and that alveolar dust clearance capacity may be a major determinant of asbestosis.
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PMID:Excessive accumulation of asbestos fibre in the bronchoalveolar space may be a marker of individual susceptibility to developing asbestosis: experimental evidence. 261 Nov 58

Data on the cytology of BAL performed on 8 silicosis and 5 asbestosis patients with different degrees of radiological profusion and functional impairment are examined. The prevalently neutrophilic alveolitis reported in the literature in these forms of pneumoconiosis is confirmed, while differences were found between the percentage of lymphocyte subpopulations in the two diseases.
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PMID:[Data on cellular subpopulations in bronchoalveolar lavage in silicosis and asbestosis patients. Case contribution]. 367 Jun 90

We performed BAL and measured the clearance of 99m-Tc-DTPA in 20 non-smoking subjects (mean age 50, range 36-68 years) occupationally exposed to asbestos (mean duration 14, range 3-30 years). All had normal lung function and none had clinical or radiological evidence of asbestosis. The mean BAL results were: total cells per ml 737 X 10(3) (360-1210), percentage macrophages 79 (49-96), percentage lymphocytes 13 (1-42), percentage neutrophils 8 (1-40), percentage eosinophils 0 (0-3), asbestos bodies per ml 83 (0-550). Eight subjects showed increased percentage of lymphocytes and four others showed increased percentages of neutrophils when compared with normal ranges in our laboratory. Higher percentages of neutrophils correlated with longer duration of exposure to asbestos (r = 0.54, P less than 0.025), and shorter time since last exposure to asbestos (r = -0.54, P less than 0.025). Four subjects showed faster clearance of 99m-Tc-DTPA than was observed in 31 normal non-smoking control subjects. There was a tendency for faster solute clearance to be associated with greater numbers of BAL macrophages (r = -0.39, P less than 0.10) but there were no significant relationships between solute clearance and other BAL variables. BAL profiles in asbestos workers may be abnormal in the absence of clinical or radiological evidence of asbestosis.
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PMID:Bronchoalveolar lavage and clearance of 99m-Tc-DTPA in asbestos workers without evidence of asbestosis. 389 10

The problems encountered in diagnosing the rare types of pneumoconiosis ( silicatosis other than asbestosis, aluminosis and hard metals fibrosis), result from the difficulties in realising a good occupational anamnese and from the disease pattern by itself. The classical examinations, (X-rays of the thorax and lung function measurements), are not able to detect the cause of these diseases, which are fundamentally characterised by an absence of specificity. These last years, new methods of diagnoses (angiotensin converting enzyme, gallium scan, transbronchial biopsies, mineralogical, cytological and histological examinations of the lung tissues and of the bronchial alveolar lavage) were developed and progressively introduced in the daily practice in pneumology. Only the examination of lung biopsies and of the products of bronchial alveolar lavage, in particular the mineralogical examinations, may usefully orientate the diagnosis. The bronchial alveolar lavage has the advantage of an easy repetition and of a small invasive character. Moreover this technique is of a rather low financial cost. However the results of these examinations must be interpreted with the greatest caution, in function of the complete medical and occupational data. The experience following more than 500 BAL shows that the discovery of talc and kaolin is very significant for an exposition since these minerals were never observed among not exposed subjects. The evidence of these minerals argues also for the diagnosis of talcosis or kaolinosis if there are radiological lesions that are compatible with these diseases. On the other hand a recent study suggests that the identification of multinuclear macrophages and of tungsten and/of tantalum in the bronchial alveolar lavage is pathognomonic of the pathology of the hard metals.
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PMID:[Diagnostic problems in rare types of pneumoconiosis]. 667 4

Asbestos-related lung diseases tend to have distinct local distributions, for example, asbestosis first appears and tends to be more severe in the peripheral parts of the lower lung zones. The risk for asbestosis is related to the total asbestos burden of the lung. This suggests that the lower lobes in asbestos-exposed individuals may contain more asbestos than the other lobes. To test whether such topographic differences exist, we compared the number of retrieved asbestos bodies (AB) per ml BAL fluid in three groups of occupationally asbestos-exposed subjects who underwent BAL at different sampling sites. In Group 1 (n = 24) we performed BAL at three sites, namely in a segment of the right upper, right middle, and right lower lobe, to evaluate differences in asbestos body burden from lung apex to basis. There was a distinct increase in BAL asbestos body concentrations from the upper (21.2 +/- 9.1 AB/ml BAL fluid) to the middle (30.4 +/- 12.8 AB/ml BAL fluid) and to the lower lobe (56.0 +/- 20.2 AB/ml BAL fluid), all differences being significant (p < 0.01). In Group 2 (n = 40), we found good interlobar correlations for asbestos body counts between the right middle lobe (21.0 +/- 5.8 AB/ml BAL fluid) and the lingula (22.4 +/- 5.9 AB/ml BAL fluid) (r = 0.941, p < 0.001) and, in Group 3 (n = 15), between the ventral basal segment of the right (41.2 +/- 13.6 AB/ml BAL fluid) and left lung (39.0 +/- 13.6 AB/ml BAL fluid) (r = 0.966, p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Distribution of asbestos bodies in the human lung as determined by bronchoalveolar lavage. 848 33

High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans have been advocated as providing greater sensitivity in detecting parenchymal opacities in asbestos-exposed individuals, especially in the presence of pleural fibrosis, and having excellent inter- and intraobserver reader interpretation. We compared the 1980 International Labor Organization (ILO) International Classification of the Radiographs of the Pneumoconioses for asbestosis with the high-resolution CT scan using a grid scoring system to better differentiate normal versus abnormal in the ILO boundary 0/1 to 1/0 chest roentgenograph. We studied 37 asbestos-exposed individuals using the ILO classification, HRCT grid scores, respiratory symptom questionnaires, pulmonary function tests, and bronchoalveolar lavage. We used Pearson correlation coefficients to evaluate the linear relationship between outcome variables and each roentgenographic method. The normal HRCT scan proved to be an excellent predictor of "normality," with pulmonary function values close to 100% for forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), total lung capacity (TLC), and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) and no increase in BAL inflammatory cells. Concordant HRCT/ILO abnormalities were associated with reduced FEV1/FVC ratio, reduced diffusing capacity, and alveolitis consistent with a definition of asbestosis. In our study, the ILO classification and HRCT grid scores were both excellent modalities for the assessment of asbestosis and its association with impaired physiology and alveolitis, with their combined use providing statistical associations with alveolitis and reduced diffusing capacity.
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PMID:Differentiation of the ILO boundary chest roentgenograph (0/1 to 1/0) in asbestosis by high-resolution computed tomography scan, alveolitis, and respiratory impairment. 887 31

The objective of this study was to evaluate the mechanisms of colchicine action in pulmonary fibrosis. The study included 10 patients with pulmonary fibrosis (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis 5, asbestosis 4, and scleroderma 1) who had been admitted to Bellevue Hospital Center, a tertiary care public hospital in New York City. We administered colchicine 0.6 mg orally for 12 weeks to patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Symptoms, high resolution CT scans, pulmonary function tests, and bronchoalveolar lavage parameters were compared prior to and after treatment. Results showed declines in dyspnea index, selective improvement in several CT scans, but no statistically significant change in BAL cells, cytokines, fibronectin, or hydroxyproline. However, there was a decline in hydroxyproline in the BAL fluid in 8/10 patients. We concluded that colchicine has a mild antifibrotic effect which may be in inhibiting collagen formation since there was no effect on the inflammation that accompanies fibrosis.
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PMID:Mechanisms of colchicine effect in the treatment of asbestosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 1217 1


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