Laštovková Andrea, Klusáčková Pavlina, Fenclová Zdenka, Bonneterre Vincent, Pelclová Daniela
Department of Occupational Medicine, First Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Ind Health. 2015;53(6):562-8. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2014-0094. Epub 2015 Jul 23.
The objective of this study is to describe a case-series of potassium aluminium tetrafluoride (KAlF(4))-induced occupational asthma (OA) and/or occupational rhinitis (OR). The study involves five patients from a heat-exchanger production line who were examined (including specific inhalation challenge tests) for suspected OA and/or OR caused by a flux containing almost 100% KAlF(4) - with fluorides' workplace air concentrations ranging between 1.7 and 2.8 mg/m(3). No subject had a previous history of asthma. All five patients had a positive specific challenge test (three patients were diagnosed with OA alone, one with OR and one with both OR and OA). At the follow-up visit, after three years on average, all patients needed permanent corticosteroid therapy (four topical, one oral). After elimination from the exposure, only one of the observed subjects gave an indication of an improvement, two subjects stabilized and two worsened. Our case series focuses on the correlation between patients' exposure to fluorides in air-conditioner production and the subsequent occurrence of OR/OA. Currently, it is uncertain whether these OR/OA were caused by hypersensitivity or irritation.
本研究的目的是描述一系列由四氟铝酸钾（KAlF₄）引起的职业性哮喘（OA）和/或职业性鼻炎（OR）病例。该研究涉及来自一家热交换器生产线的五名患者，他们因怀疑由一种含近100% KAlF₄的助熔剂引起的OA和/或OR而接受检查（包括特异性吸入激发试验），工作场所空气中氟化物浓度在1.7至2.8 mg/m³之间。所有受试者既往均无哮喘病史。所有五名患者的特异性激发试验均为阳性（三名患者仅被诊断为OA，一名为OR，一名为OR和OA均有）。在平均三年后的随访中，所有患者均需要长期使用皮质类固醇治疗（四名局部用药，一名口服）。脱离接触后，仅一名观察对象显示有改善迹象，两名病情稳定，两名病情恶化。我们的病例系列重点关注空调生产中患者接触氟化物与随后发生OR/OA之间的相关性。目前，尚不确定这些OR/OA是由超敏反应还是刺激引起的。
