High concentrations of chromium in lung tissue from lung cancer patients.

The pulmonary chromium content was determined by plasma atomic emission spectrometer (DCP-AES) from 53 lung cancer and 43 control patients, and compared with smoking habits, severity of emphysema and occupational history. The chromium content from the lung cancer patients was higher than that from the smoking (P less than 0.025) or nonsmoking control patients (6.4 +/- 4.3, 4.0 +/- 4.0, and 2.2 +/- 0.6 microgram/g dry weight, respectively). A positive correlation between the pulmonary chromium and smoking time (P less than 0.025) and the severity of emphysema (P less than 0.001) was found in the control but not in the cancer patients. The difference in the pulmonary chromium content was greatest between those lung cancer and control patients who were light smokers or had mild emphysema. This group of lung cancer patients included subjects with occupational exposure to chromium. The possibility of occupational cancer should be considered especially with light smokers. The grade of emphysema and metals such as chromium accumulating from tobacco could serve as objective indicators of smoking.