silicon dioxide or silica is the earth’s most abundant mineral. the primary pulmonary illness attributable to silica exposure is silicosis, which is observed in three forms: classic, accelerated and acute. a case of silicosis is presented in this article who has been working in a stone-cutting plant. he had suffered from symptoms of silicosis one year after employment in this plant (acute form)...

author reports a case of 67- years- old men referred to donga university hospital silicosis who had worked in tunnel drilling where presumably had been exposed to high concentration free silica for almost 20 yr. this report is considered the first in korea to the best of our knowledge since no cases on silicosis could be reported in this occupation in reviewing various literature sources in kor...

  Silicosis is considered to be among the occupational lung diseases and associated with sandblasting, mining, quarrying and tunneling. Acute silicosis is usually progressive diseaseand despite treatment with corticosteroids it leads to cardio-respiratory failure and death. Alveolar silicoproteinosis is one of it’s acute presentations due to exposure to silica dust and lungs filling with protei...

background: silicosis is known in industrial workers for centuries. till recently, the mainstay of its diagnosis and progress was clinical examination of the respiratory system, pulmonary function test and chest radiography. several biomarkers such as serum angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) activity have been examined to determine the extent of silicosis. objective: to elucidate the effect of...

The purpose of this study was to assess the value and usefulness of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in the diagnostics of small opacities and complications of silicosis in mine machinery manufacturing workers, compared to conventional radiograms. The diagnosis of silicosis is mainly based on the radiological findings of workers exposed to the dust causing lung fibrosis. However, on r...

BACKGROUND In an earlier study of gold miners men with silicosis were found to have abnormal lung function, including airflow obstruction and reduced diffusing capacity. In a follow up study a sample of these men was examined by computed tomography to determine whether emphysema accounted for these abnormalities, which are associated with silicosis in this working population. METHODS A sample...

Silicosis is a potentially fatal but preventable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica (silica). Chronic silicosis, the most common form, occurs after exposure to relatively low silica concentrations for >10 years. Accelerated silicosis occurs after 5-10 years of exposure to higher silica levels, and acute silicosis can occur after only weeks or months of ex...

The sensitivity of radiographic diagnosis of silicosis in an occupational medical care (primary examination) varied between 39% and 71%, and the specifity between 60% and 99%. This means that, if the prevalence of silicosis in dust exposed population is between 2% and 8%, 23% to 56% of silicosis cases are likely to be falsely diagnosed. The dependence of misdiagnosis of silicosis on the prevale...

OBJECTIVES Silica has recently been reclassified as carcinogenic to humans based largely on the observed increase in rates of lung cancer in subjects with silicosis. Other recent reviews have arrived at different conclusions as to whether silicosis or silica itself is carcinogenic. This study aims to examine exposure-response relations between exposure to silica and subsequent silicosis and lun...

It remains controversial whether silica is a human lung carcinogen. In this study, we estimated the relative risks of lung cancer due to silica and silicosis by meta-analysis. We collected papers published from 1966-2001 which epidemiologically reported on the relationship between silica/silicosis and lung cancer. We removed papers which did not exclude the effects of asbestos and radioactive m...