Sandblasting is traditionally known as a high-risk profession for potential development of lung silicosis. Reported is a case of a sandblaster with confirmed accelerated silicosis, a condition rather rarely diagnosed in the Czech Republic. Initially, the patient presented with progressive dry cough and exertional dyspnoea. In the early diagnostic process, a possible occupational aetiology was considered given his occupational history and known high-risk exposure to respirable silica particles confirmed by industrial hygiene assessment at the patient's workplace. The condition was confirmed by clinical, histological and autopsy findings. The patient died during lung transplantation, less than five years from diagnosis.

Department of Respiratory Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Palacký University Olomouc Czech Republic

See more in PubMed

Leung CC, Yu ITS, Chen W. (2012) Silicosis. Lancet 379, 2008–18. PubMed

Rees D, Murray J. (2007) Silica, silicosis and tuberculosis. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 11, 474–84. PubMed

Castranova V, Vallyathan V. (2000) Silicosis and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. Environ Health Perspect 108 Suppl 4, 675–84. PubMed PMC

Rimal B, Greenberg AK, Rom WN. (2005) Basic pathogenetic mechanisms in silicosis: current understanding. Curr Opin Pulm Med 11, 169–73. PubMed

Uptodate. Silicosis. http://www.uptodate.com/contents/silicosis?source=search_result&search=silicosis&selectedTitle=1%7E22 Last review current through: Feb 2014.

Özkan M, Ayan A, Arik D, Balkan A, Ongürü O, Gümüş S. (2009) FDG PET findings in a case with acute pulmonary silicosis. Ann Nucl Med 23, 883–6. PubMed

Chong S, Lee KS, Chung MJ, Han J, Kwon OJ, Kim TS. (2006) Pneumoconiosis: comparison of imaging and pathologic findings. Radiographics 26, 59–77. PubMed

Ozmen CA, Nazaroglu H, Yildiz T, Bayrak AH, Senturk S, Ates G, Akyildiz L. (2010) MDCT findings of denim-sandblasting-induced silicosis: a cross-sectional study. Environ Health 9, 17.http://www.ehjournal.net/content/pdf/1476-069X-9–17.pdf. PubMed PMC

Alper F, Akgun M, Onbas O, Araz O. (2008) CT findings in silicosis due to denim sandblasting. Eur Radiol 18, 2739–44. PubMed

Ladou J .(2007) Current occupational and environmental medicine, 4th Ed., 326–327, Mc-Graw Hill Companies, USA.

Akgun M, Gorguner M, Meral M, Turkyilmaz A, Erdogan F, Saglam L, Mirici A. (2005) Silicosis caused by sandblasting of jeans in Turkey: a report of two concomitant cases. J Occup Health 47, 346–9. PubMed

Tse LA, Li ZM, Wong TW, Fu ZM, Yu ITS. (2007) High prevalence of accelerated silicosis among gold miners in Jiangxi, China. Am J Ind Med 50, 876–80. PubMed

Jiang CQ, Xiao LW, Lam TH, Xie NW, Zhu CQ. (2001) Accelerated silicosis in workers exposed to agate dust in Guangzhou, China. Am J Ind Med 40, 87–91. PubMed

Langley RJ, Mishra NC, Peña-Philippides JC, Rice BJ, Seagrave JC, Singh SP, Sopori ML. (2011) Fibrogenic and redox-related but not proinflammatory genes are upregulated in Lewis rat model of chronic silicosis. J Toxicol Environ Health A 74, 1261–79. PubMed PMC

Porter DW, Ramsey D, Hubbs AF, Battelli L, Ma J, Barger M, Landsittel D, Robinson VA, McLaurin J, Khan A, Jones W, Teass A, Castranova V. (2001) Time course of pulmonary response of rats to inhalation of crystalline silica: histological results and biochemical indices of damage, lipidosis, and fibrosis. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol 20 Suppl 1, 1–14. PubMed

Fang SC, Zhang HT, Wang CY, Zhang YM. (2014) Serum CA125 and NSE: biomarkers of disease severity in patients with silicosis. Clin Chim Acta 433, 123–7. PubMed

Trapnell BC, Whitsett JA, Nakata K. (2003) Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. N Engl J Med 349, 2527–39. PubMed

Hirakata Y, Kobayashi J, Sugama Y, Kitamura S. (1995) Elevation of tumour markers in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. Eur Respir J 8, 689–96. PubMed

Karnak D, Köycü G, Erdemli E, Dizbay Sak S, Kağan Kadıoğlu Y. (2011) Acute silicoproteinosis: therapy success. Respiration 82, 550–1. PubMed

Stafford M, Cappa A, Weyant M, Lara A, Ellis J, Jr, Weitzel NS, Puskas F. (2013) Treatment of acute silicoproteinosis by whole-lung lavage. Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth 17, 152–9. PubMed

Zhang YM, Zhang HT, Wang CY, Wang W, Wu J, Wang C. (2012) [Long-term therapeutic effects of whole lung lavage in the management of silicosis]. Zhonghua Lao Dong Wei Sheng Zhi Ye Bing Za Zhi 30, 690–3. PubMed

Kramer MR, Blanc PD, Fireman E, Amital A, Guber A, Rhahman NA, Shitrit D. (2012) Artificial stone silicosis: disease resurgence among artificial stone workers. Chest 142, 419–24. PubMed

Singer JP, Chen H, Phelan T, Kukreja J, Golden JA, Blanc PD. (2012) Survival following lung transplantation for silicosis and other occupational lung diseases. Occup Med (Lond) 62, 134–7. PubMed PMC

Burton CM, Milman N, Carlsen J, Arendrup H, Eliasen K, Andersen CB,, Iversen M, Copenhagen National Lung Transplant Group (2005) The Copenhagen National Lung Transplant Group: survival after single lung, double lung, and heart-lung transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant 24, 1834–43. PubMed

Mao W, Chen J, Zheng M, Wu B, Zhu Y. (2013) Initial experience of lung transplantation at a single center in China. Transplant Proc 45, 349–55. PubMed

Chida M, Fukuda H, Araki O, Tamura M, Umezu H, Miyoshi S. (2010) Lung transplantation for aspiration-induced silicosis of the lung. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 58, 141–3. PubMed

Di Giuseppe M, Gambelli F, Hoyle GW, Lungarella G, Studer SM, Richards T, Yousem S, McCurry K, Dauber J, Kaminski N, Leikauf G, Ortiz LA. (2009) Systemic inhibition of NF-kappaB activation protects from silicosis. PLoS ONE 4, e5689. PubMed PMC