[Presence of ferruginous bodies in cancerous pulmonary tissue]. / Presencia de cuerpos ferruginosos en tejido pulmonar canceroso.

The correlation between high counts of ferruginous bodies (FB) and pulmonary cancer was investigated. Autopsy cases between 1982 and 1988 were chosen, and studied at Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias. Two grams of lung tissue were digested with sodium hypochlorite. We found no differences in the histologic types of cancer: 18.0 FB per gram (FB/g) for the adenocarcinoma group and 16.0 FB/g for both the epidermoid and anaplastic groups. The asbestos core was predominant in all FB analysed (greater than 85%). Males, Mexico city residents and smokers showed to higher amounts of FB. We concluded that there is an environmental exposure to particles in the cases studied.

Ferruginous bodies in cases with occupational and non-occupational exposure to inorganic dusts. A study with 40 matched cases.

In this study we evaluated the usefulness of ferruginous bodies (FB) quantification in lung digest and histologic sections from 40 patients with a history of exposure to inorganic dusts. The patients were matched with 40 cases without occupational exposure. The samples of peripheral lung tissue were digested and all FB were quantified. Lung sections were also evaluated in order to confirm the presence of FB. The concentrations of FB in the patients were higher than the controls (Wilcoxon test, p < 0.001). The patients group showed a median concentration of 194.5 FB/g of dry lung tissue (FB/g) vs. 34.0 FB/g in the controls. Seventy percent of the patients had more than 100 FB/g vs. 27.5% in the controls cases. Pneumoconiosis was diagnosed in 19 patients, 17 had FB/g above 100 and only 4 were positive to FB in lung sections. We can conclude that lung digest and FB counts help to confirm exposures to inorganic dusts above the background values found in the general population. FB counts can help when the clinical file does not confirm the exposure.

[Pneumonia caused by measles: description of a clinical case of giant cell pneumonia in a non-immunosuppressed adolescent patient]. / Neumonía por sarampión: descripción de un caso clínico de neumonía de células gigantes en una paciente adolescente no inmunosuprimida.

Measles pneumonia is the most frequent complications associated with mortality in this infection. There are two types, one corresponds to the giant-cells pneumonia and the other one to lung superinfection after measles infection. The first one has been occurred in immunosuppressed patients, without rash. We reported a measles pneumonia case in a previously healthy adolescent girl who had a fatal pneumonia by giant cells demonstrated by open lung biopsy. The review of the literature showed that this is very unusual in normal population.