3 - Overview of applications in medicine

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Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) for characterizing foreign matter within human tissue is most frequently employed in the study of inhaled particles within the substance of the lung. The most common diagnostic role of analytic electron microscopy is seen in studies of the pneumoconioses: the spectrum of nonneoplastic reactions that the lung parenchyma displays toward inhaled and retained minerals, metals, dusts, and organic materials. This varied family of diseases includes asbestosis, silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, hard metal pneumoconiosis, and many others. A variety of metals and other elements may be detected with EDX analysis, including copper in tissues of patients with Wilson's disease, thorium in patients who have been injected in the past with the radiographic contrast material Thorotrast, gold in patients treated with long-term chrysotherapy, and arsenic or lead in patients with heavy metal poisoning. Analytic electron microscopy may corroborate or refute a known or suspected exposure, which may be remote. The rare earths cerium and lanthanum have been detected in alveolar macrophages and in lung tissue at least 15 years after the last known exposure, suggesting a means for their metabolism and biopersistence.

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