Overexposure to respirable coal mine dust can cause severe lung disease including progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDS) has been used for in situ lung dust particle analysis for evaluation of disease etiology. Automating such work can reduce time, costs, and user bias.

To develop and test an automated FESEM-EDS method for in situ analysis of inorganic particles in coal miner lung tissue.

We programmed an automated FESEM-EDS procedure to collect particle size and elemental data, using lung tissue from 10 underground coal miners with PMF and 4 control cases. A statistical clustering approach was used to establish classification criteria based on particle chemistry. Data were correlated to PMF/non-PMF areas of the tissue, using corresponding brightfield microscopy images. Results for each miner case were compared with a separate corresponding analysis of particles recovered following tissue digestion.

In situ analysis of miner tissues showed higher particle number densities than controls and densities were generally higher in PMF than non-PMF areas. Particle counts were typically dominated by aluminum silicates with varying percentages of silica. Compared to digestion results for the miner tissues, in situ results indicated lower density of particles (number per tissue volume), larger size, and a lower ratio of silica to total silicates—probably due to frequent particle clustering in situ.

Automated FESEM-EDS analysis of lung dust is feasible in situ and could be applied to a larger set of mineral dust–exposed lung tissues to investigate specific histologic features of PMF and other dust-related occupational diseases.