부산대학교 도서관

Lay description Important respiratory diseases, such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and pulmonary carcinoma, are strictly related with exposure to asbestos fibres, which, inhaled, reach the respiratory system. Other important pathologies - ovarian cancer, cancer of larynx - are caused by inhalation/ingestions of asbestos. In this work, we analyzed the possibility for the asbestos fibres to arrive at gallbladder and biliary tract. Thin sections of gallbladder of two patients, affected by pleural mesothelioma and by other serious disorders in the biliary tract, are studied using variable pressure scanning electron microscopy, equipped with chemical microprobe (VP-SEM/EDS). Fibres of crocidolite and of chrysotile, asbestos phases, were detected in remarkable amounts, entrapped in the connective tissue of the gallbladder. The detection of the asbestos fibres represents the first step to define the relationship between asbestos and important gallbladder disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]