Question:medium
All of the following features are seen in asbestosis EXCEPT:
All of the following features are seen in asbestosis EXCEPT:
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Asbestosis causes lower lobe interstitial fibrosis, pleural thickening and calcific pleural plaques. Emphysema is a different disease process, not a feature of asbestosis.
Updated On: Jul 8, 2026
- Diffuse pulmonary interstitial fibrosis
- Fibrous pleural thickening
- Emphysema
- Calcific pleural plaques
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Think about how asbestos fibers act on the lung.
Once breathed in, thin asbestos fibers lodge deep in the small airways and alveoli. The body tries to wall them off, and over years this produces scar tissue rather than clearing them.
Step 2: Follow the scarring to its usual sites.
The scarring spreads through the interstitium of the lower lobes, giving diffuse interstitial fibrosis. The irritation also reaches the pleura covering the lung, producing fibrous thickening, and in many long term cases the parietal pleura lays down small plaques that later calcify.
Step 3: Compare this pattern with emphysema.
Emphysema is a completely different process: destruction and permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchiole, usually from smoking or a genetic enzyme deficiency. Asbestos fibers do not destroy alveolar walls this way, they scar them. So an emphysema pattern is not something asbestosis produces.
Step 4: Match the options.
Interstitial fibrosis, pleural thickening and calcific plaques all trace back to the fibrosing effect of asbestos fibers described above. Emphysema does not fit this mechanism.
Step 5: Conclude.
The feature that is not part of asbestosis is emphysema.
\[ \boxed{\text{Emphysema}} \]
Once breathed in, thin asbestos fibers lodge deep in the small airways and alveoli. The body tries to wall them off, and over years this produces scar tissue rather than clearing them.
Step 2: Follow the scarring to its usual sites.
The scarring spreads through the interstitium of the lower lobes, giving diffuse interstitial fibrosis. The irritation also reaches the pleura covering the lung, producing fibrous thickening, and in many long term cases the parietal pleura lays down small plaques that later calcify.
Step 3: Compare this pattern with emphysema.
Emphysema is a completely different process: destruction and permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchiole, usually from smoking or a genetic enzyme deficiency. Asbestos fibers do not destroy alveolar walls this way, they scar them. So an emphysema pattern is not something asbestosis produces.
Step 4: Match the options.
Interstitial fibrosis, pleural thickening and calcific plaques all trace back to the fibrosing effect of asbestos fibers described above. Emphysema does not fit this mechanism.
Step 5: Conclude.
The feature that is not part of asbestosis is emphysema.
\[ \boxed{\text{Emphysema}} \]
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