The Tyler Asbestos Workers Program. I. A medical surveillance model and method.

An asbestos-exposed worker who smokes cigarettes has a high risk of developing cancer of the lung. One thousand ninety-five former workers at a plant manufacturing asbestos (amosite) insulation products were exposed to high levels of asbestos dust concentrations in the atmosphere. The workers have been identified and located.

Pulmonary cytopathology of former asbestos workers. Report of the first year.

Five hundred fifty-four workers, 84% of whom are chronic cigarette smokers, have been examined during the past year with emphasis on the role of sputum cytopathology in the early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer. Of the 554, 232 (42%) have shown squamous metaplasia, 44 (8%), mild to moderate atypias, 18 (3.2%), severe atypias, and two (0.

Occupational carcinogenesis. High-risk industrial groups: identification, education, and surveillance. Tyler Asbestos Workers Program.

It is concluded that sputum cytopathology is an excellent, simple, noninvasive, painless, and inexpensive means for early detection of malignant and premalignant lesions of the lung, and that no special techniques are necessary for the identification of ferruginous bodies.