The Cleveland Clinic just verified the study from the Mayo Clinic, with different lung biopsy samples. And they too found no lipoid pneumonia or oil in the lungs.
For the full report head over to the VAPI outbreak FAQ and open discussion thread - #35 by anon87263109
Excerpt:
Dr. Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, a Cleveland Clinic pathologist who specializes in the lungs, and other staff pathologists are among the first to complete biopsies and publish their research in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
The Cleveland Clinic team conducted biopsies of lungs of eight men, age 19 to 61, who suffered from respiratory problems following e-cigarette use. Mukhopadhyay said the lung tissue came from Cleveland Clinic patients, as well as from patients from Vanderbilt University and other collaborating hospitals.
Mukhopadhyay said they looked for what they call “exogenous lipoid pneumonia,” or fats in the lungs.
The condition isn’t rare. It can occur when people take mineral oil to relieve constipation and the oil is breathed into the lungs, instead of getting to the stomach, he said.
Researchers have discovered that Vitamin E oil had been inserted into vape cartridges. Vitamin E oil has similar viscosity as THC, and appears to be used as a cutting agent. Many researchers have posited that fats in the lungs are making people sick.
All patients had vaped THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana. Some said they also vaped nicotine. Mukhopadhyay’s research didn’t make any conclusions about whether nicotine e-cigarettes were contributing to the illnesses. He was more interested in looking at injury to the lungs after all vaping-related illnesses.
The team conducted tests to determine if there were infections in the lungs. The tests were negative in all cases, he said.
But Mukhopadhyay said there was no lipoid pneumonia.
That doesn’t rule out vitamin E being the cause of the illnesses, but more research needs to be done before public health officials can call it the culprit, Mukhopadhyay said.
“We were very excited to see lung biopsies in these patients and say, ‘Hey, we’ve been able to confirm that what the clinicians are thinking is correct,’” he said. “But, in fact, it doesn’t turn out like that. We were surprised none of our cases had this.”