History Of Silicosis Research Articles

The probability of lung cancer in patients with incidentally detected pulmonary nodules detected via low-dose computed tomography screening in China.

10569 Background: Low dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening has been proven to be effective in reducing lung cancer mortality, but the ensuing high false-positive and overdiagnosis rates shackle the effectiveness of lung cancer screening (LCS) in China. Nodule malignancy prediction models may be an applicable solution. Methods: We developed and internally validated the model using data from the ongoing Henan province Cancer Screening Program in Urban China (CanSPUC). From 2013 to 2021, 23031 heavy smokers underwent baseline screening with LDCT; 2553 participants were diagnosed with pulmonary nodules. Detailed questionnaire, physical assessment and follow-up were completed for all participants. We then externally validated the model using the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) dataset consisting of 10485 lung nodules in 4660 participants. Multivariable Cox proportional risk regression models were used. Data analysis was performed from July 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Results: A total of 111 and 1089 lung cancer cases with a median follow-up duration of 3.7 years occurred in the Henan CanSPUC and NLST study, respectively. Age, gender, physical activity, consumption of pickled food, history of silicosis or pneumoconiosis, nodule type, size, calcification, and pleural retraction sign were included into the model. The AUC (95% CI) of the model for 5-year lung cancer risk was 0.857 (0.801, 0.914) and 0.847 (0.829, 0.881) in the training set and validation set, respectively. Compared with Mayo model, VA model, PKU model, and Brock model, the Henan CanSPUC model yield statistically better discriminatory performance (all P values < 0.05). The model calibrated well across the deciles of predicted risk in both the overall population and all subgroups. Conclusions: The model developed and validated in this study may be used to estimate the probability of lung cancer in nodules detected at baseline LDCT, allowing more efficient risk-adapted follow-up in population-based LCS programs.

Silicosis With Secondary Spontaneous Pneumothorax in the Western Rajasthan.

ObjectiveSilicosis is one of the common occupational lung diseases caused by crystalline silica respiration. Pneumothorax is one of the most common and morbid complications of silicosis involving lung pleura. It is commonly seen unilaterally in chronic silicosis and can often be lethal. The purpose of this study is to report secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP) in critically ill patients with silicosis.MethodsA cross-sectional study was done between January 2019 and June 2019 at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Medical College in Jaipur, India. A cohort of 50 patients with dyspnea and a history of silicosis were studied. A chest X-ray and sputum for acid fast bacilli were checked on all suspected cases.ResultsThe present study showed that the mean age of patients was 38.7 years, all silicosis patients had dyspnea, and 96% of patients had severe chest pain. The results of chest X-rays concluded the evidence of silicosis. Bilateral pneumothorax was seen in three cases, right-sided pneumothorax in eight cases, and left-sided pneumothorax in 11 cases. The rate of pneumothorax incidence in silicosis patients was about 44%, which is higher than the current evidence. Six patients were managed conservatively with oxygen and bronchodilators, and 16 patients underwent through tube thoracostomy.ConclusionThis study highlights the importance of considering spontaneous pneumothorax in patients who are presenting with shortness of breath and/or chest pain especially with a known history of silicosis, as the timely diagnosis can alter the management of this morbid condition which carries a high mortality rate if left untreated, compromising the lung expansion, venous return, cardiac output, oxygenation and eventually leading to death.

Clinical Significance of Environmental Mycobacteria Isolated From Respiratory Specimens of Patients With and Without Silicosis

ObjectiveTo describe the clinical, functional and radiographic differences of respiratory disease caused by environmental mycobacteria in patients with and without silicosis. MethodRetrospective, observational study in patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria isolated in the Hospital Meixoeiro (University Hospital of Vigo) microbiology laboratory between January 2007 and December 2013. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of silicosis and mycobacterial lung disease, using American Thoracic Society criteria. ResultsIn 156 cases, at least one species of environmental mycobacteria had been isolated from the respiratory culture. A total of 71% were identified in men, 40 (25.6%) of whom had silicosis. Sixty patients (38.5%) met American Thoracic Society microbiological criteria: 62.5% of the silicosis group and 30.2% of the non-silicosis group. The most common species were Mycobacterium avium complex, Mycobacterium genavense and Mycobacterium chelonae. American Thoracic Society criteria for environmental mycobacterial disease were met in 34 (22.7%) patients: 14 in the silicosis group and 20 in the non-silicosis group. Treatment was administered in 24 cases, with better bacteriological eradication levels in the non-silicosis group. ConclusionsIn our series, a history of silicosis was related with a higher incidence of environmental mycobacterial disease. The causative species in the majority of cases in our setting was Mycobacterium avium complex, followed by Mycobacterium genavense. Patients with silicosis showed lower cure rates after treatment.

Criena Fitzgerald, Turning Men into Stone: A Social and Medical History of Silicosis in Western Australia 1890–1970 [Book Review

Criena Fitzgerald, Turning Men into Stone: A Social and Medical History of Silicosis in Western Australia 1890–1970 [Book Review

The pathologist's view of silicosis in 1930 and in 2015. The Johannesburg Conference legacy.

The 1930 International Labour Office Conference on silicosis in Johannesburg was a turning point in the history of silicosis and in the recognition of the associated pathologic patterns. Since 1930, pneumoconioses such as silicosis have become much rarer in developed countries and can now be diagnosed at an early stage based on clinical and radiologic criteria. However, in spite of these advances, pathologists must remember to look for silica in tissues, particularly when clinical and radiologic findings are more uncertain. Furthermore, nowadays pathologists essentially observe silicotic lesions as incidental findings adjacent to lung cancers. In addition to identifying the characteristic lesions, pathologists must also try to identify their causative agent, in the case of crystalline silica firstly by using polarized light examination, followed as appropriate by more sophisticated devices. Finally, pathologists and clinicians must always keep in mind the various implications of exposure to silica compounds in a wide range of diseases.

Significado clínico de las micobacterias ambientales aisladas en muestras respiratorias en pacientes con silicosis y sin silicosis

ObjectiveTo describe the clinical, functional and radiographic differences of respiratory disease caused by environmental mycobacteria (EM) in patients with and without silicosis. MethodRetrospective, observational study in patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria isolated in the Hospital Meixoeiro (University Hospital of Vigo) microbiology laboratory between January 2007 and December 2013. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of silicosis and mycobacterial lung disease, using American Thoracic Society criteria. ResultsIn 156 cases, at least one species of EM had been isolated from the respiratory culture. A total of 71% were identified in men, 40 (25.6%) of whom had silicosis. Sixty patients (38.5%) met American Thoracic Society microbiological criteria: 62.5% of the silicosis group and 30.2% of the non-silicosis group. The most common species were Mycobacterium avium complex, Mycobacterium genavense and Mycobacterium chelonae. American Thoracic Society criteria for environmental mycobacterial disease were met in 34 (22.7%) patients: 14 in the silicosis group and 20 in the non-silicosis group. Treatment was administered in 24 cases, with better bacteriological eradication levels in the non-silicosis group. ConclusionsIn our series, a history of silicosis was related with a higher incidence of environmental mycobacterial disease. The causative species in the majority of cases in our setting was Mycobacterium avium complex, followed by Mycobacterium genavense. Patients with silicosis showed lower cure rates after treatment.

Scedosporium apiospermum brain abscesses in an immunocompetent man with silicosis

We report a case of Scedosporium apiosporum brain abscesses in an immunocompetent 69-year-old man with a history of silicosis. Delayed diagnosis and institution of antifungal therapy was associated with neurological impairment, with subsequent complications resulting in death, highlighting the need for early diagnostic aspiration of brain abscesses non-responsive to antibiotics. We propose that, in the absence of identifiable immunosuppression, silicosis may have been a contributing factor to the development of central nervous system infection.

La silicosis o tisis de los mineros en Colombia, 1910-1960

Silicosis is a disease associated with mining work, whose importance was first recognized in the medical, economic and legal fields in the 1930s. It has become an important object of historical study for both social and occupational medicine. Through the history of silicosis it has been possible to study the adoption of the concept of "occupational disease" and the birth of occupational medicine in Colombia. This process is analyzed in the article through a reading of medical publications from the first half of the twentieth century regarding silicosis in Colombian mining

Beyond a shadow of a doubt? Experts, lay knowledge, and the role of radiography in the diagnosis of silicosis in Britain, c. 1919-1945.

The history of silicosis provides an important chapter in the history of occupational and environmental health. Recent historical scholarship has drawn attention to the importance of patient attitudes, popular protests, and compensation claims in the formation of a "lay epidemiology" of such a disease, frequently challenging the scientific orthodoxies devised by large corporations and medical specialists. Surprisingly little research has been undertaken on the United Kingdom, which provided much of the early expertise and medical research in respiratory diseases among industrial workers. This article examines the introduction of a particular technique, x-radiography, and its use by radiologists and others in debates on the causes and consequences of silica inhalation by the laboring population in Britain during the early decades of the twentieth century. In contrast to some recent interpretations, and also to the narrative of progress that practitioner historians have developed since the 1940s, this article suggests that the use of this technology was contested for much of this period and the interpretation of X-rays remained disputed and uncertain into the 1950s. The article also questions recent accounts of lay epidemiology as an adequate model for understanding the progress of such innovations in medical history.

Mortality experience of haematite mine workers in China.

The mortality risk of iron ore (haematite) miners between 1970 and 1982 was investigated in a retrospective cohort study of workers from two mines, Longyan and Taochong, in China. The cohort was limited to men and consisted of 5406 underground miners and 1038 unexposed surface workers. Among the 490 underground miners who died, 205 (42%) died of silicosis and silicotuberculosis and 98 (20%) of cancer, including 29 cases (5.9%) of lung cancer. The study found an excess risk of non-malignant respiratory disease and of lung cancer among haematite miners. The standardised mortality ratio for lung cancer compared with nationwide male population rates was significantly raised (SMR = 3.7), especially for those miners who were first employed underground before mechanical ventilation and wet drilling were introduced (SMR = 4.8); with jobs involving heavy exposure to dust, radon, and radon daughters (SMR = 4.2); with a history of silicosis (SMR = 5.3); and with silicotuberculosis (SMR = 6.6). No excess risk of lung cancer was observed in unexposed workers (SMR = 1.2). Among current smokers, the risk of lung cancer increased with the level of exposure to dust. The mortality from all cancer, stomach, liver, and oesophageal cancer was not raised among underground miners. An excess risk of lung cancer among underground mine workers which could not be attributed solely to tobacco use was associated with working conditions underground, especially with exposure to dust and radon gas and with the presence of non-malignant respiratory disease. Because of an overlap of exposures to dust and radon daughters, the independent effects of these factors could not be evaluated.