Clinical significance of detecting asbestos bodies in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in diffuse lung disease
The presence of ≥1 AB/mL in the BALF reflects substantial asbestos exposure and is associated with pleural plaques on CT imaging but not with BAL cellular patterns or the rate of decline in respiratory function. These findings suggest that AB detection in BALF has limited predictive value for respiratory function decline but could be valuable for identifying unrecognized asbestos exposure in patients with diffuse lung disease.
Authors
- Masanori AKIRA
- Y Inoue
- Yuji Inagaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1014-8733)
- Yasunobu Matsuda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4363-1884)
- Chikatoshi Sugimoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0237-0080)
- Tomoaki Teramoto
- Toru Arai
- Shigeki Shimizu
Institutions
- Fukujuji Hospital (JP)
- NHO Kinki Chuo Chest Medical Center (JP)
- Kitano Hospital (JP)
- Wakamoto Pharmaceutical (Japan) (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Respiratory Medicine
- Published
- 2026-01-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2026.108642
- Primary Topic
- Occupational and environmental lung diseases
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00