Correspondence regarding the article "The asbestos fibre burden in human lungs: new insights into the chrysotile debate"

We read with interest the generally excellent article by Feder et al. [1] published in the European Respiratory Journal and we would like to add just a comment. Authors screened the German Mesothelioma Register for patients with asbestos body (AB) counts ≥500 per gramme of wet lung (corresponding to approximately ≥5000 AB per gramme of dry lung tissue) which had been analysed twice from different tissue excisions at minimum interval of 4 years. In the 12 patients with longitudinal data the asbestos fibre burden in the lung tissue was stable in particular for chrysotile. Authors stated that the study was the first to present intra-individual longitudinal data about the asbestos fibre burden in living human lungs.