Pulmonary Dust Retention in a Silicon Carbide Worker

Abstract

This paper reports on pulmonary dust retention in a man who worked 42 years in the vicinity of an Acheson furnace of a silicon carbide plant and had a carborundum pneumoconiosis. Special attention is paid to the retained silicon carbide fibers in the lung parenchyma. The concentration of silicon carbide fibers longer than 5 µm is 39 300 fibers/mg dry lung. These fibers have a similar morphology to fibers observed in the working environment. The result is compared to pulmonary retention of workers exposed to asbestos.