Zurbriggen Rita, Capone Lilian
Centro Asistencial Metalúrgico, UOM, Villa Constitución, Santa Fe, Argentina.
Medicina (B Aires). 2013;73(3):224-30.
Asbestos-related diseases are caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers in their variety chrysotile or white asbestos. Although the ban in Argentina dates from 2003, there are numerous industries where work continues with this mineral, including iron and steel industries. It is currently known the high pathogenicity of this material, so that in many countries there are programs to monitoring the exposed workers. Here we describe the general characteristics and pulmonary manifestations in 27 patients who had worked in a very huge steel factory in South America. The diagnosis of asbestos-related diseases was made by a medical-occupational record, history of asbestos exposure, additional studies of lung function and chest images. Then the sources of exposure (occupational, domestic and environmental), exposure time and latency period were analyzed, in those patients in whom a related disease was detected. Smoking history was also taken into account. Twenty-two patients had benigns pathologies (81.4%), sixteen of them with lesions localyzed in pleura, and other six pulmonary asbestosis. The malignant pathologies occurred in five patients (18.5%), in four of them mesothelioma and in other one lung cancer. The problem of asbestos exposure has contemporary relevance. Hence the need for a surveillance program in workers exposed to asbestos in the past or currently, to detect, report, record and investigate the characteristics of these pathologies.
石棉相关疾病是由吸入各种温石棉或白石棉纤维引起的。尽管阿根廷自2003年起就实施了禁令，但仍有许多行业继续使用这种矿物作业，包括钢铁行业。目前已知这种材料具有高致病性，因此在许多国家都有对接触工人进行监测的项目。在此，我们描述了在南美洲一家大型钢铁厂工作的27名患者的一般特征和肺部表现。石棉相关疾病的诊断是通过职业医疗记录、石棉接触史、肺功能的额外检查以及胸部影像做出的。然后，对那些被检测出患有相关疾病的患者，分析其接触源（职业、家庭和环境）、接触时间和潜伏期。吸烟史也被纳入考虑。22名患者患有良性病变（81.4%），其中16例病变位于胸膜，另外6例为肺石棉沉着病。恶性病变发生在5名患者中（18.5%），其中4例为间皮瘤，另1例为肺癌。石棉接触问题具有当代相关性。因此，有必要对过去或现在接触石棉的工人实施监测项目，以检测、报告、记录和调查这些病症的特征。
