NIOSHTIC-2 Publications Search

Mica-associated pulmonary interstitial fibrosis.

Landas SK; Schwartz DA

Am Rev Respir Dis 1991 Sep; 144(3)(Pt 1):718-721

https://doi.org/10.1164/ajrccm/144.3_Pt_1.718

00203482

A case report of severe interstitial fibrosis in a 65 year old male nonsmoker who had been exposed to mica (12001262) while employed in the rubber industry was presented. A slow progression of dyspnea and development of a dry cough occurred prior to a chest radiograph which revealed marked interstitial fibrosis particularly in the right lung. The patient had worked in a rubber plant for 40 years and for a 5 year period during that time worked in the core department where he shoveled mica and was exposed to visible clouds of mica dust. The patient has undergone pulmonary function testing, high resolution chest computed tomography scanning, bronchoscopy, and lung biopsy. Elemental and crystallographic analyses indicated that mica was present in the alveoli and lung parenchyma. The patient has since been put on a steroid for increasing dyspnea and receives supplemental oxygen. The causal relationship between mica and the interstitial fibrosis was supported by the prolonged exposure to mica, absence of asbestos and other silicates, clinical and radiographic features of severe interstitial fibrosis, and histopathologic delineation of the interstitial lesion including spectroscopic and crystallographic verification of crystalline mica.

NIOSH-Grant; Case-studies; Lung-disease; Mineral-dusts; Pulmonary-function-tests; Lung-fibrosis; Rubber-workers; Humans; Occupational-exposure

Internal Medicine University of Iowa Pulmonary Disease Division Iowa City, IA 52242

ARDSBL

12001-26-2

19910901

Journal Article

122514

Grant

1991

Grant-Number-K01-OH-000093

3

0003-0805

Pulmonary System Disorders

American Review of Respiratory Disease

IA

University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa