[Dupuytren contracture in Mosel wine dressers with arsenic-induced aftereffect damage].

Between 1972 and 1981 a total of 121 male and female wine-dressers with late after-effects from arsenic were medically examined and treated. Skin and liver were examined regularly every 3 months. With advancing years an increase in typically arsenic melanosis, precancerous, carcinomas and hyperkeratosis in palmae and plantae was observed. A significant increase in Dupuytren's contracture was found in the age groups between 50 and 80 with a growing progression of typically arsenic horned pearls on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The typically arsenic horned pearls and arsenical keratosis occurred most frequently in the Dupuytrenical changes of the skin. The liver parameters showed no pathological results such as cirrhosis of the liver as compared with the other patients.