Chest high-resolution CT features analysis in predicting the progression of asbestosis / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To analyze the radiological characteristics of chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of patients with asbestosis, and to investigate the signs of predicting the disease progression of asbestosis. Methods: A prospective method was used to enroll 68 patients with asbestosis who were regularly followed up from 2013 to 2016. The radiological characteristics of patients with asbestosis were described by the International Classification of HRCT for Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Diseases (ICOERD) , and the differences between patients with and without progression were compared during the observation period. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to analyze the chest HRCT radiological signs predicting the progression of asbestosis. Results: The study included 68 patients with asbestosis aged (65.5±7.8) years old, of which 64.7% (44/68) were female, 29.4% (20/68) had a history of smoking. There was no significant difference in age, sex, smoking and asbestos exposure between patients with progressive asbestosis (20.6%, 14/68) and patients without progressive asbestosis (79.4%, 54/68) (P>0.05) . Chest HRCT of patients with asbestosis showed irregular and/or linear opacities, of which 5.9% (4/68) were accompanied by honeycombing. Irregular and/or linear opacities were mainly lower lung preponderant, often accompanied with ground glass opacity and mosaic perfusion. 98.5% (67/68) had pleural abnormalities, of which 39.7% (27/68) had diffuse pleural thickening with parenchymal bands and/or rounded atelectasis. The analysis of multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression showed that the risk of the progression of asbestosis was increased with higher irregular and/or linears opacities cores (HR=1.184, 95%CI: 1.012-1.384, P=0.034) and the appearance of honeycombing (HR=6.488, 95%CI: 1.447-29.097, P=0.015) . Conclusion: The irregular and/or linear opacities scores and honeycombing on chest HRCT are independent influencing factors for predicting the disease progression of asbestosis.

Drogas asociadas a enfermedad pleural / Associated drugs to pleural disease

Está bien documentado que las drogas pueden producir enfermedades de la pleura. Si bien hay alrededor de treinta drogas a las que se las relaciona claramente con afectación pleural, también hay que considerar que toda droga puede, potencialmente, comprometer la pleura y, si no hay otra causa evidente de enfermedad pleural, se debe tener presente esta causa. El daño puede darse en forma independiente en la pleura o coexistir con el del parénquima pulmonar. La mayoría de los casos se resuelve al suspender la droga y, en otras ocasiones, se deben agregar esteroides. En este artículo se realiza un agrupamiento de las drogas que producen esta patología, una descripción y las características de cada una de ellas, y el manejo terapéutico adecuado de las que más frecuentemente se hallan involucradas.

It's well known that drugs can produce pleural diseases. There are about thirty drugs which are associated with them, but any drug, potentially, may cause pleural disease. Pleural damage may happen as an independent form or coexists with pulmonary parenchyma injury. Most cases are resolute when drug is discontinued, but every times we have to add steroids. In this article we group them, their characteristics are described, and we give a treatment guide of more common drugs which cause pleural diseases.

Turpentine-induced chemical pneumonitis with broncho-pleural fistula.

Turpentine is a volatile hydrocarbon used in polishes, solvents, paints and textile industry. When hydrocarbons are aspirated into the lung, they cause chemical pneumonitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and rarely pneumatoceles and pneumothorax. We report a 20-year old boy with turpentine-induced chemical pneumonitis that evolved into a bronchopleural fistula. He was treated with oxygen, steroids and intercostal tube drainage. This is the first reported case of turpentine-associated bronchopleural fistula.