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La Medicina Del Lavoro Feb 2022Radiological identification of lung masses in patients with pneumoconiosis is difficult. The aim of the study is to characterize Computed Tomography (CT) findings of...
PURPOSE
Radiological identification of lung masses in patients with pneumoconiosis is difficult. The aim of the study is to characterize Computed Tomography (CT) findings of Progressive Massive Fibrosis (PMF).
METHODS
The data of pneumoconiosis patients, who were diagnosed with PMF between 2014-2019 in a tertiary hospital, were collected. Demographic data, work-related data, Pulmonary Function Test results and radiological imaging results were gathered. Separate evaluations were made for the right and left lungs, and the CT findings and measurement results were recorded.
RESULTS
In 90% of our cases, PMF lesions were bilaterally located. Eighty-eight point five percent of the unilateral lesions were located in the upper lobe of the right lung. Enlarged lymph nodes were found in 83.3% and calcification was found in the lymph nodes in 63% of the cases. Band structures extending between the PMF lesion and the adjacent pleura were observed in 86% of the cases, and invagination in the lung parenchyma adjacent to the PMF was observed in 80% of the cases.
CONCLUSION
In general, our findings were consistent with the radiologically defined PMF. In addition, pleural findings, which are not frequently studied in the literature except for asbestosis, were also described in the study.
METHODS
The data of pneumoconiosis patients, who were diagnosed with PMF between 2014-2019 in a tertiary hospital, were collected. Demographic data, work-related data, PFT results and radiological imaging results were noted. Separate evaluations were made for the right and left lungs, and the CT findings and measurement results were recorded.
RESULTS
In 90% of our cases, PMF lesions were bilaterally located. 88.8% of the unilateral lesions were located in the upper lobe of the right lung. Enlarged lymph nodes were found in 83.3% and calcification was found in the lymph nodes in 63% of the cases. Band structures extending between the PMF lesion and the adjacent pleura were observed in 86% of the cases, and invagination in the lung parenchyma adjacent to the PMF was observed in 80% of the cases.
CONCLUSION
In general, our findings were consistent with the radiologically defined PMF. In addition, pleural findings, which are not frequently studied in the literature except asbestosis, were also described in the study.
Topics: Asbestosis; Fibrosis; Humans; Lung; Pneumoconiosis; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 35226653
DOI: 10.23749/mdl.v113i1.12303 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Nov 2020Chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is a granulomatous disease that resembles sarcoidosis but is caused by beryllium. Clinical manifestations similar to those observed in... (Review)
Review
Chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is a granulomatous disease that resembles sarcoidosis but is caused by beryllium. Clinical manifestations similar to those observed in CBD have occasionally been reported in exposure to dusts of other metals. However, reports describing the clinical, radiographic, and pathological findings in conditions other than beryllium-induced granulomatous lung diseases, and detailed information on mineralogical analyses of metal dusts, are limited. A 51-year-old Japanese man with rapidly progressing nodular shadows on chest radiography, and a 10-year occupation history of underground construction without beryllium exposure, was referred to our hospital. High-resolution computed tomography showed well-defined multiple centrilobular and perilobular nodules, and thickening of the intralobular septa in the middle and lower zones of both lungs. No extrathoracic manifestations were observed. Pathologically, the lung specimens showed 5-12 mm nodules with dust deposition and several non-necrotizing granulomas along the lymphatic routes. X-ray analytical electron microscopy of the same specimens revealed aluminum, iron, titanium, and silica deposition in the lung tissues. The patient stopped smoking and changed his occupation to avoid further dust exposure; the chest radiography shadows decreased 5 years later. The radiological appearances of CBD and sarcoidosis are similar, although mediastinal or hilar lymphadenopathy is less common in CBD and is usually seen in the presence of parenchymal opacities. Extrathoracic manifestations are also rare. Despite limited evidence, these findings are similar to those observed in pneumoconiosis with a sarcoid-like reaction due to exposure to dust other than of beryllium. Aluminum is frequently detected in patients with pneumoconiosis with a sarcoid-like reaction and is listed as an inorganic agent in the etiology of sarcoidosis. It was also detected in our patient and may have contributed to the etiology. Additionally, our case suggests that cessation of dust exposure may contribute to improvement under the aforementioned conditions.
Topics: Berylliosis; Beryllium; Dust; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pneumoconiosis; Sarcoidosis
PubMed: 33266389
DOI: 10.3390/medicina56110630 -
British Medical Journal May 1948
Topics: Anthracosis; Coal; Humans; Pneumoconiosis
PubMed: 18860437
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.1.4560.1015 -
BMJ Open Sep 2020Occupational dust exposure may induce various lung diseases, including pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The features of combined COPD and...
OBJECTIVES
Occupational dust exposure may induce various lung diseases, including pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The features of combined COPD and pneumoconiosis have not been well described, and this may hamper the management. This study aimed to describe the prevalence and characteristics as well as the risk factors of the combined diseases.
DESIGN
A cross-sectional study.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
758 patients with pneumoconiosis were recruited at a single-medical centre. Of these, 675 patients with pneumoconiosis, including asbestosis, silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis and other pneumoconiosis, was eligible for analysis.
PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES
COPD was diagnosed based on clinical features and/or history of exposure to risk factors and post bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV)/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio <0.7. Clinical data were collected from predesigned medical reports. The patients underwent both chest radiograph and high-resolution CT scans. Risk factors for combined COPD and pneumoconiosis were analysed using regression analysis.
RESULTS
COPD prevalence overall was 32.7% (221/675) and was the highest in silicosis (84/221) and coal workers' pneumoconiosis (100/221). COPD prevalence increased with smoking pack-years, dust exposure duration and pneumoconiosis stage. Patients with combined diseases had lower body mass index, higher smoking index and worse pulmonary function. Risk factors for combined diseases included heavy smoking, silica or coal exposure and advanced pneumoconiosis. The interaction between dust exposure and smoking in COPD was also identified. The risk of combined COPD significantly increased with heavy smoking and silica or coal exposure (OR 5.49, 95% CI 3.04 to 9.93, p<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
COPD is highly prevalent in patients with pneumoconiosis, especially patients with silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Occupational dust exposure as well as heavy smoking is associated with an increased risk of combined COPD and pneumoconiosis, which demands an effective preventive intervention.
Topics: China; Coal Mining; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dust; Humans; Occupational Diseases; Occupational Exposure; Pneumoconiosis; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
PubMed: 32907907
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038874 -
BMC Pulmonary Medicine Aug 2018Pneumoconiosis patients receive community-based or home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) for symptom management and enhancement of physical and mental well-being....
BACKGROUND
Pneumoconiosis patients receive community-based or home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) for symptom management and enhancement of physical and mental well-being. This study aimed to review the clinical benefits of community-based rehabilitation programmes (CBRP) and home-based rehabilitation programmes (HBRP) for PR of pneumoconiosis patients.
METHODS
Archival data of pneumoconiosis patients who participated in CBRP and HBRP between 2008 and 2011 was analysed. There were 155 and 26 patients in the CBRP and HBRP respectively. The outcome measures used in the pre- and post-tests were Knowledge, Health Survey Short Form-12 (SF-12), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), 6-Min Walk Test (6MWT), and Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (CRQ). Paired t-tests and the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using the patients' baseline lung functions as the covariates were performed to examine the changes in the outcomes after completing the programmes. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between patient's programme participation factors and different scores of the outcome measures.
RESULTS
After controlling for patients' baseline lung capacities, significant improvements were revealed among patients participated in CBRP in the scores of the 6MWT, Knowledge, HADS, SF-12 PCS, and CRQ emotion and mastery. The different scores in the Knowledge and HADS were correlated with the patients' levels of programme participation. In contrast, significant improvements were only found in the scores of the Knowledge and 6MWT among patients who participated in HBRP. The gain scores of the 6MWT were correlated with the patients' levels of programme participation.
CONCLUSIONS
Both CBRP and HBRP benefited patients' levels of exercise tolerance and knowledge about the disease. CBRP provided greater benefits to patients' mental and psychosocial needs. In contrast, HBRP was found to improve patients' physical function, but did not have significant impacts on patients' mental health and health-related quality of life. The attendance of patients and the participation of their relatives in treatment sessions were important factors in enhancing the positive effects of CBRP and HBRP. These positive outcomes confirm the value of pulmonary rehabilitation programmes for community-dwelling pneumoconiosis patients.
Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Emotions; Exercise Therapy; Exercise Tolerance; Female; Health Surveys; Home Nursing; Hong Kong; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pneumoconiosis; Quality of Life; Regression Analysis; Retrospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Walk Test
PubMed: 30092783
DOI: 10.1186/s12890-018-0692-7 -
British Journal of Industrial Medicine Aug 1983ABSTRACT From a continuous series of 886 postmortem examinations on coal mine workers in New South Wales, Australia, from 1949 to 1982 and their histories the following...
ABSTRACT From a continuous series of 886 postmortem examinations on coal mine workers in New South Wales, Australia, from 1949 to 1982 and their histories the following data were obtained: age at death (886 cases), percentage of emphysema in both lungs (Heard method) (870 cases), bronchial gland wall (G-W) ratio (Reid Index) (412 cases), chest radiograph within 10 years of death (792 cases), history of work at the coal face (844 cases), history of amount of tobacco smoked (606 cases), and FEV five years before death (278 cases). Linear regression analysis showed the following: (1) The severity of emphysema had a significant positive regression on years of face work independently of age at death. (2) The severity of emphysema had a significant positive regression on the severity of ϰ-ray pneumoconiosis, which was best defined in the non-smoking group and the non-bronchitic group. (3) There was a significant multiple linear regression relationship between severity of emphysema (dependent variable) and pneumoconiosis and G-W (independent variables). The ratio of standardised regression coefficients was pneumoconiosis: G-W = 3:1. (4) The severity of ϰ-ray pneumoconiosis had a significant positive regression on years of face work and a negative regression on smoking amount. (5) G-W ratio had significant positive regression on age of death and severity of emphysema but not years of face work or severity of pneumoconiosis. (6) Smoking was not correlated with severity of emphysema or G-W ratio. (7) FEV (% predicted) was significantly negatively correlated with bronchitis, emphysema, and pneumoconiosis. (8) Severity of pneumoconiosis and emphysema have declined slightly but significantly over the 33 year period, but there has been no significant change in G-W ratio during 1960-82.
Topics: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Bronchitis; Coal Mining; Forced Expiratory Volume; Humans; Lung; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Diseases; Pneumoconiosis; Pulmonary Emphysema; Radiography; Smoking
PubMed: 6871115
DOI: 10.1136/oem.40.3.258 -
Computational and Mathematical Methods... 2022Early diagnosis and treatment of occupational pneumoconiosis can delay the development of the disease. This study is aimed at investigating the intelligent diagnosis of...
OBJECTIVE
Early diagnosis and treatment of occupational pneumoconiosis can delay the development of the disease. This study is aimed at investigating the intelligent diagnosis of occupational pneumoconiosis by wavelet transform-derived entropy.
METHOD
From June 2013 to June 2020, the high KV digital radiographs (DR) and computed tomography (CT) images from a total of 60 patients with occupational pneumoconiosis in our department were selected. The wavelet transform-derived texture features were extracted from all images, and the decision tree was used for feature selection. The support vector machines (SVM) with three kernel functions were selected to classify the two kinds of images, and their diagnostic efficiency was compared.
RESULT
After eight times of wavelet decomposition, eight wavelet entropy texture features (feature set) were extracted, and six were selected to form the feature subset. The classification effect of linear kernel function SVM is better than those of other functions, with an accuracy of 84.2%. The diagnostic values of DR and CT for occupational pneumoconiosis were the same (kappa = 0.737, < 0.001). The detection rate of CT for stage I of occupational pneumoconiosis was significantly higher than that of DR ( = 0.031).
CONCLUSION
It is helpful to improve the early diagnosis level of pneumoconiosis by using SVM to make an intelligent diagnosis based on the wavelet entropy.
Topics: Algorithms; Humans; Pneumoconiosis; Support Vector Machine; Wavelet Analysis
PubMed: 35341000
DOI: 10.1155/2022/2037019 -
British Medical Journal Jun 1974The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has reaffirmed the view that simple pneumoconiosis does not produce disability or shorten life. This is often true but, without...
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has reaffirmed the view that simple pneumoconiosis does not produce disability or shorten life. This is often true but, without overlooking the importance of chronic bronchitis, such conclusions are wrong in many instances.Chronic bronchitis is probably commoner in miners without pneumoconiosis than in those with it, and an uneven distribution of bronchitis may mask the effects of pneumoconiosis. Cough and sputum in a miner with pneumoconiosis are not always due to chronic bronchitis. Disability is usually judged on measurement of vital capacity and forced expiratory volume, factors which cannot be expected to be significantly altered by simple pneumoconiosis alone. Other tests may show abnormalities which lead to ventilation and perfusion inequalities and to an increase in the ventilatory cost of exercise. Focal emphysema, often a consequence of simple pneumoconiosis, develops slowly and its influence on disability is delayed.Disagreements arise because epidemiologists expect all lungs with simple pneumoconiosis react in the same way, and they want a quantitative relation between simple pneumoconiosis and emphysema before attributing one to the other.There are major difficulties in assessing disability but there is little justification for the regular application of the rule that if the results of ventilatory tests are normal disability is not present and if they are abnormal this is due to something other than simple pneumoconiosis.
Topics: Bronchitis; Coal Mining; Disability Evaluation; Humans; Lung; Male; Pneumoconiosis; Pulmonary Emphysema; Spirometry; Vital Capacity; Workers' Compensation
PubMed: 4276109
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.2.5920.652 -
Environmental Health Perspectives Jun 1984The mineral pneumoconioses (lung disease caused by inhalation of inorganic dust) have been an important disease entity for centuries. In the last several decades, the... (Review)
Review
The mineral pneumoconioses (lung disease caused by inhalation of inorganic dust) have been an important disease entity for centuries. In the last several decades, the electron microscope has been used to elucidate the distribution and identification of inhaled minerals, to aid in establishing etiologic factors, and less commonly, to determine the basic biologic mechanisms through which inhaled minerals cause lung disease. In this section, I review the instrumentation and tissue preparation currently used to address some modern problems in particle-induced lung disease. For example, human pneumoconioses of undetermined etiology can be clarified by electron microscopy and X-ray energy spectrometry. In addition, the initial deposition patterns of asbestos and silica are demonstrated in animal models, and the contributions of electron microscopy in establishing the initial lesions of asbestosis are described.
Topics: Animals; Asbestos; Disease Models, Animal; Environmental Pollutants; Humans; Microscopy, Electron; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Pneumoconiosis; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Silicon Dioxide
PubMed: 6090114
DOI: 10.1289/ehp.8456149 -
Medycyna Pracy Dec 2018The aim of the work is to present the epidemiological situation in the field of occupational diseases in Poland in 2016.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the work is to present the epidemiological situation in the field of occupational diseases in Poland in 2016.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The cases of occupational diseases identified in accordance with the applicable case law system in Poland and reported to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases in 2016 were analyzed. The analysis includes nosologic units, their causative factors as well as gender and age of patients. Absolute numbers and incidence rates per 100 000 employees were presented.
RESULTS
In 2016, 2119 cases of occupational diseases were recorded in Poland, i.e. 14.3 cases per 100 000 employed persons. The incidence rate was mainly caused by pneumoconioses (28.5%), infectious or parasitic diseases (27.2%), chronic voice disorders (9.7%), chronic diseases of the peripheral nervous system (8.6%) and hearing loss (6.3%). The highest incidence was recorded in the mining and quarrying (329.7 cases), agriculture and forestry (23.8 cases), manufacturing (20 cases) and education (17.9 cases) and healthcare and social work activities (17.7 cases).
CONCLUSIONS
In comparison with 2015, there was an increase in the number of cases of occupational diseases by 1.2%, which was influenced mainly by a larger (by 181 cases) number of pneumoconiosis. The epidemiological situation resulting from occupational diseases in our country, although it covers all identified cases, should be assessed with caution because the suspicion arises underestimation of certain diseases, especially cancer. Med Pr 2018;69(6):643-650.
Topics: Female; Hearing Loss; Humans; Incidence; Infections; Male; Occupational Diseases; Pneumoconiosis; Poland; Registries; Voice Disorders
PubMed: 30444221
DOI: 10.13075/mp.5893.00745