Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of
interstitial lung disease
Interstitial lung disease (ILD), or diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD), is a group of respiratory diseases affecting the interstitium (the tissue and space around the alveoli (air sacs)) of the lungs. It concerns alveolar epithelium, pulmo ...
where
inhalation
Inhalation (or Inspiration) happens when air or other gases enter the lungs.
Inhalation of air
Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. The process is autonomic (though there are exceptions ...
of
dust
Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes ...
( for example, ash dust, lead particles, pollen grains etc) has caused
interstitial fibrosis
An interstitial space or interstice is a space between structures or objects.
In particular, interstitial may refer to:
Biology
* Interstitial cell tumor
* Interstitial cell, any cell that lies between other cells
* Interstitial collagenase, ...
.
The three most common types are asbestosis, silicosis, and coal miner's lung. Pneumoconiosis often causes
restrictive impairment, although diagnosable pneumoconiosis can occur without measurable impairment of lung function.
Depending on extent and severity, it may cause death within months or years, or it may never produce symptoms. It is usually an
occupational lung disease
Occupational lung diseases are work-related, lung conditions that have been caused or made worse by the materials a person is exposed to within the workplace. It includes a broad group of diseases, including occupational asthma, industrial bronchi ...
, typically from years of dust exposure during work in mining; textile milling; shipbuilding, ship repairing, and/or
shipbreaking
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...
;
sandblasting
Sandblasting, sometimes known as abrasive blasting, is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface or remove su ...
; industrial tasks; rock drilling (subways or building pilings);
or agriculture.
It is one of the most common occupational diseases in the world.
Types
Depending upon the type of dust, the disease is given different names:
*
Coalworker's pneumoconiosis
Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease or black lung, is an occupational type of pneumoconiosis caused by long-term exposure to coal dust. It is common in coal miners and others who work with coal. It is similar to b ...
(also known as coal miner's lung, black lung or anthracosis) –
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
,
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
*
Aluminosis
Aluminosis (also known as aluminium lung) is a restrictive lung disease caused by exposure to aluminum-bearing dust. Aluminosis is a form of pneumoconiosis that can lead to pulmonary fibrosis. First cases of lung damage from aluminium exposure were ...
–
Aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
*
Asbestosis
Asbestosis is long-term inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the human lung, lungs due to asbestos, asbestos fibers. Symptoms may include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest pain, chest tightness. Complications may include ...
–
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
*
Silicosis
Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis. Silicos ...
(also known as "grinder's disease" or Potter's rot) –
crystalline silica dust
*
Bauxite fibrosis
Bauxite pneumoconiosis, is a progressive form of pneumoconiosis usually caused by occupational exposure to bauxite fumes which contain aluminium and silica particulates.
It is typically seen in workers involved in the smelting of bauxite to produc ...
–
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...
*
Berylliosis
Berylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease (CBD), is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds, a form of beryllium poisoning. It is distinct from acute beryllium poisoning, wh ...
–
beryllium
Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...
*
Siderosis
Siderosis is the deposition of excess iron in body tissue. When used without qualification, it usually refers to an environmental disease of the lung, also known more specifically as pulmonary siderosis or Welder's disease, which is a form of pneu ...
–
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
*
Byssinosis
Byssinosis is an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of cotton or jute dust in inadequately ventilated working environments and can develop over time with repeated exposure. Byssinosis commonly occurs in textile workers who are employe ...
– Byssinosis is caused by
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
dust inhalation and typically demonstrates a different pattern of lung abnormalities than most other pneumoconiosis.
*
Chalicosis
Chalicosis is a form of pneumoconiosis affecting the lungs or bronchiole
The bronchioles or bronchioli (pronounced ''bron-kee-oh-lee'') are the smaller branches of the bronchial airways in the lower respiratory tract. They include the termina ...
– fine dust from
stonecutting
* Silicosiderosis (also sometimes called iron miner's lung) – mixed dust containing silica and iron
* Labrador lung (found in miners in
Labrador
, nickname = "The Big Land"
, etymology =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Canada
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
) – mixed dust containing iron, silica and
anthophyllite
Anthophyllite is an orthorhombic amphibole mineral: ☐Mg2Mg5Si8O22(OH)2 (☐ is for a vacancy, a point defect in the crystal structure), magnesium iron inosilicate hydroxide. Anthophyllite is polymorphic with cummingtonite. Some forms of antho ...
, a type of asbestos
*
Stannosis – tin oxide
*
Talcosis
Pulmonary talcosis is a pulmonary disorder caused by talc.
It has been related to silicosis resulting from inhalation of talc and silicates. It is also tied to heroin use where talc might be used as an adulterant to increase weight and street va ...
–
talc
Talc, or talcum, is a Clay minerals, clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thi ...
*
Baritosis
Baritosis is a benign type of pneumoconiosis, which is caused by long-term exposure to barium dust.
Barium has a high radio-opacity and the disease may develop after few months of exposure. Extremely dense, discrete small opacities of 2–4  ...
- a benign type of pneumoconiosis caused by barium inhalation; it typically causes little or no overgrowth, hardening, and/or fibrosis.
* Mixed-dust pneumoconiosis
Pathogenesis
The reaction of the lung to mineral dusts depends on many variables, including size, shape, solubility, and reactivity of the particles. For example, particles greater than 5 to 10 μm are unlikely to reach distal airways, whereas particles smaller than 0.5 μm move into and out of
alveoli Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit.
Uses in anatomy and zoology
* Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs
** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte
** Alveolar duct
** Alveolar macrophage
* ...
, often without substantial deposition and injury. Particles that are 1 to 5 μm in diameter are the most dangerous, because they get lodged at the bifurcation of the distal airways. Coal dust is relatively inert, and large amounts must be deposited in the lungs before lung disease is clinically detectable. Silica, asbestos, and beryllium are more reactive than coal dust, resulting in fibrotic reactions at lower concentrations. Most inhaled dust is entrapped in the mucus blanket and rapidly removed from the lung by ciliary movement. However, some of the particles become impacted at alveolar duct bifurcations, where macrophages accumulate and engulf the trapped particulates. The pulmonary alveolar macrophage is a key cellular element in the initiation and perpetuation of lung injury and fibrosis. Many particles activate the
inflammasome
Inflammasomes are cytosolic multiprotein oligomers of the innate immune system responsible for the activation of inflammatory responses. Activation and assembly of the inflammasome promotes proteolytic cleavage, maturation and secretion of pro-in ...
and induce
IL-1 production. The more reactive particles trigger the macrophages to release a number of products that mediate an inflammatory response and initiate
fibroblast
A fibroblast is a type of cell (biology), biological cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, produces the structural framework (Stroma (tissue), stroma) for animal Tissue (biology), tissues, and plays a critical role in wound ...
proliferation and collagen deposition. Some of the inhaled particles may reach the lymphatics either by direct drainage or within migrating macrophages and thereby initiate an immune response to components of the particulates and/or to self-proteins that are modified by the particles. This then leads to an amplification and extension of the local reaction. Tobacco smoking worsens the effects of all inhaled mineral dusts, more so with asbestos than with any other particle.
Diagnosis
Typical indications on patient assessment include:
* Cough
* Shortness of breath
* Chest tightness
* Chest X-ray may show a characteristic patchy, subpleural, bibasilar interstitial infiltrates or small cystic
radiolucencies called honeycombing, particularly in advanced disease.
Pneumoconiosis in combination with multiple pulmonary
rheumatoid nodules in
rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...
patients is known as
Caplan's syndrome.
Epidemiology
The prevalence as of 2021 of pneumoconiosis is around 527,500 cases, with over 60,000 new patients reported globally in 2017. Prevalence has trended somewhat downward since 2015.
The mortality of pneumoconiosis patients remained at a high level in recent years, with over 21,000 deaths each year since 2015.
It is likely that pneumoconiosis is under-diagnosed and under-reported, especially in countries without highly developed healthcare systems.
Treatment and Prognosis
Lung damage due to pneumoconiosis cannot be reversed.
However, some steps can slow down disease progression and relieve symptoms. These include the prescription of medications and breathing treatments to open airways and reduce inflammation.
Pulmonary rehabilitation and supplemental oxygen may also be recommended.
A lung transplant may be needed in cases of serious diseases. If the patient smokes, smoking cessation is also important.
Regular testing, such as X-rays or lung function tests, may be indicated to monitor disease progression.
Prevention
To reduce the likelihood of developing pneumoconiosis, individuals working in affected industries should wear a mask, wash skin that comes in contact with dust, remove dust from clothing and wash the face and hands before eating or drinking.
In addition, governments often regulate industry, especially mines, to limit how much dust is in the air. In the United States, coal miners injured by pneumoconiosis and their families may receive monthly payments and medical benefits under the
Black Lung Benefits Act.
See also
*
Aluminosis
Aluminosis (also known as aluminium lung) is a restrictive lung disease caused by exposure to aluminum-bearing dust. Aluminosis is a form of pneumoconiosis that can lead to pulmonary fibrosis. First cases of lung damage from aluminium exposure were ...
*
Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972
The Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA) is a U.S. federal law which provides monthly payments and medical benefits to coal miners totally disabled from pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) arising from employment in or around the nation's coal mines. Th ...
*
Chalicosis
Chalicosis is a form of pneumoconiosis affecting the lungs or bronchiole
The bronchioles or bronchioli (pronounced ''bron-kee-oh-lee'') are the smaller branches of the bronchial airways in the lower respiratory tract. They include the termina ...
*
Philip D'Arcy Hart
Philip Montagu D'Arcy Hart, CBE (25 June 1900 – 30 July 2006) was a seminal British medical researcher and pioneer in tuberculosis treatment.
Personal life
Philip D'Arcy Hart was the grandson of Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling. He was ...
*
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
''Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis'' () is a made up word coined in 1935 by the then president of the National Puzzlers' League, Everett M. Smith. It has sometimes been used as a synonym for the occupational disease known as silicosi ...
*
Popcorn workers' lung disease —
diacetyl
Diacetyl (IUPAC systematic name: butanedione or butane-2,3-dione) is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH3CO)2. It is a yellow liquid with an intensely buttery flavor. It is a vicinal diketone (two C=O groups, side-by-side). Diacet ...
emissions and airborne dust from butter flavorings used in microwave popcorn production
References
Further reading
* (Paperback ed. (2009) Cardiff University .
External links
*
*
*
Black Lung — United Mine Workers of America*
A Conversation about Mining and Black Lung DiseaseFlavorings-Related Lung Disease The Institute of Occupational Medicine and its research into pneumocomiosis*
{{Authority control
Mine safety
Coal
Occupational diseases
Lung diseases due to external agents