TABLE 1.

Fibre analyses at surgery and autopsy in comparison with corresponding time intervals to exposure cessation

Patient	Years from last exposure to surgery	Max AB/g FW surgery	Years from last exposure to autopsy	Max AB/g FW autopsy	Years from surgery to autopsy	Fibre type (% chrysotile) FE-SEM	Fibre type (% chrysotile) TEM
1	10	1900	24	714	14	10%	15%
2	9	1281#	30	27921	21	35%	30%
3	>6	431	>14	800	8	80%	70%
4	20	1167	24	5347	4	95%	90%
5	>3	2435	>11	3190	8	ND	ND
6	>7	605	>13	1682	6	ND	ND
7	9	4528	16	5612	7	ND	ND
8	9	6433	16	39121	7	ND	ND
9	>12	9750	>20	53663	8	ND	ND
10	24	1346	33	1269	9	ND	ND
11	20	3.4¶	33	1863	13	80%	67%
12	29	10.3¶	37	165347	8	85%	90%
Median	∼9.5	1623	∼22	4269	8	80%	69%
Mean		2988		25544

Occupational histories were obtained from clinicians or insurance. Approximations are indicated by > (greater) if exact data are missing. In these cases exposure cessation was assumed to retirement age or the asbestos ban in Europe 1993 respectively as the latest. The actual end might have been earlier. Time intervals are also shown in figure 2, fibre analysis results referring to their corresponding time interval are illustrated in figure 3. Here only the highest asbestos body count from each patient is given. See supplementary material for details. Amphibole and chrysotile fibres were detected by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis for their elemental composition; here the percentage of chrysotile fibres is given after FE-SEM and TEM analysis. ^#: tissue with active tuberculosis, thus fibre count may be underestimated. ^¶: Patients without lung tissue; values represent asbestos bodies per mL of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and were not considered for the calculation of mean and medians of the asbestos fibre burden. Max: maximum; AB: asbestos bodies; FW: fresh weight; ND: not done.