[Is scleroderma without silicosis also an occupational disease?].

Clinical, roentgenological and lung-physiological findings in 5 patients with progressive scleroderma are reported. All of them showed an intensive exposure to crystalline silica of many years however without evidence of a silicosis. Criteria for legal recognition as an occupational disease are intensity and duration of quartz dust exposure. Legal recognition in the G.D.R. can be achieved in a special procedure called "Sonderentscheidverfahren".