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Query: UMLS:C0037116 (silicosis)
 1,822 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several inhaled substances, from occupational or other environmental exposure, produce significant pulmonary disease and abnormalities demonstrated by pulmonary imaging. Areas of controversy and misconception relate principally to the extent and nature of both the clinical disease and the imaging abnormalities specific to each substance. The size and shape of the inhaled particles is an important determinant of the nature and severity of the disease produced, with fibrous shapes usually being the most pathogenetic. Fibrogenicity is another important pathogenetic characteristic of talc and kaolin, as well as asbestos. Talc produces four distinct forms of pulmonary disease, depending not only on the other substances with which it is inhaled, but also whether it is inhaled or injected intravenously. When inhaled alone, talc does not appear to produce significant pulmonary fibrosis or malignancy. Kaolin, mica, fuller's earth, zeolite, and fiberglass all vary in disease production according to their shape and fibrogenicity. Silica, diatomaceous earth, and other forms of silica are all highly fibrogenic and thus produce clinically obvious disease with sufficient inhalation. The largest particles usually produce nodular patterns in the upper pulmonary fields, as is typical of silicosis. The fibrous particles are more likely to manifest themselves as interstitial patterns in the lower pulmonary fields.
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PMID:Misconceptions regarding the pathogenicity of silicas and silicates. 253 43

Talc is a hydrated magnesium silicate used in the chemical, ceramic, cosmetic, leather, paper and building industries. Interstitial lung disease - talcosis - due to exclusive talc inhalation is a rare form of pneumoconiosis. More often, pulmonary disease due to talc is encountered after intravenous administration of talc during drug abuse. Talc can contain asbestos or quartz particles which induce asbestosis or silicosis. Here we present a case report about a worker who was exposed to talcum during his work in tire manufacturing. During his lifetime an occupational disease was not recognised. The deceased had been forwarded to cremation; the legally prescribed second inspection of the corpse induced the suspicion of an occupational disease and an autopsy was ordered. The autopsy revealed a lung fibrosis with honeycomb lung alterations and under polarised light a massive burden with birefringed crystalline particles could be visualised. Light and electron microscopic lung dust analyses could exclude an elevated asbestos lung burden. The element analysis of foreign body material in lung tissue confirmed its chemical composition of magnesium and silicon which was consistent with talc. Based on the pathological and mineralogical findings, the confirmed occupational exposure towards talc and, due to the exclusion of other possible causes (asbestos, quartz), the diagnose of a talc-induced interstitial lung fibrosis - talcosis - was established. This case emphasises the importance of pathological-anatomic examinations in combination with lung dust analysis to reveal occupational exposure as a cause of an interstitial lung disease.
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PMID:[Case report of a rare occupational disease: a during life non-recognised occupational disease--talcosis]. 2141 6