Asbestos-related pleural disease

The image shows asbestos plaques on the right parietal pleura of a 58-year-old former shipyard worker who died of acute suppurative bronchitis. He also had cor pulmonale and congestive heart failure. Histologically, pulmonary interstitial fibrosis with asbestos bodies was demonstrated. The pleural plaques consist predominantly of dense collagen. This photograph was taken after removal of the lung with the camera held in the lower right thorax, at approximately the level of the diaphragm, looking up toward the apex of the chest cavity.