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CT patterns of pleuro-pulmonary damage caused by inhalation of pumice as a model of pneumoconiosis from non-fibrous amorphous silicates

  • CHEST RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is to correlate the radiological features of pleuro-pulmonary damage caused by inhalation of pumice (an extrusive volcanic rock classified as a non-fibrous, amorphous, complex silicate) with exposure conditions.

Materials and methods

36 subjects employed in the pumice quarries were evaluated for annual follow-up in a preventive medical surveillance program including spirometry, chest CT lasting from 1999 to 2014. They were only male subjects, mean age 56.92 ± 16.45 years. Subjects had worked in the quarries for an average of 25.03 ± 9.39 years. Domestic or occupational exposure to asbestos or other mineral dusts other than pumice was excluded. Subjects were also classified as smokers, former smokers and nonsmokers.

Results

Among the 36 workers examined, we identified four CT patterns which resulted to be dependent on exposure duration and intensity, FVC, FEV1 and FEF25–75, but not on cigarette smoking. The most common symptoms reported by clinical examination were dyspnoea, cough and asthenia. In no case it was proven an evolution of CT findings during follow-up for 10 years.

Conclusions

Liparitosis, caused by pumice inhalation, can be considered a representative example of pneumoconiosis derived by amorphous silica compounds, which are extremely widespread for industrial manufacturing as well as for applicative uses, such as nano-materials. Moreover, being pumice free of quartz contamination, it can represent a disease model for exposure to pure non-fibrous silicates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment, Security, Territory, Food and Health Sciences-Occupational Medicine Section, Policlinico “G. Martino”, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125, Messina, Italy

    Chiara Costa & Concettina Fenga

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico “G. Martino”, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy

    Giorgio Ascenti, Emanuele Scribano, Tommaso D’Angelo, Michele Gaeta, Alfredo Blandino & Silvio Mazziotti

Authors
  1. Chiara Costa
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  2. Giorgio Ascenti
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  3. Emanuele Scribano
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  4. Tommaso D’Angelo
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  5. Michele Gaeta
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  6. Concettina Fenga
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  7. Alfredo Blandino
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  8. Silvio Mazziotti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tommaso D’Angelo.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that nobody of them has any conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

Informed consent

All individual participants included in the study gave their informed consent for the treatment of their clinical data at the admission to the University Hospital.

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Costa, C., Ascenti, G., Scribano, E. et al. CT patterns of pleuro-pulmonary damage caused by inhalation of pumice as a model of pneumoconiosis from non-fibrous amorphous silicates. Radiol med 121, 19–26 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-015-0571-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-015-0571-8

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