PMID: 12768956May 29, 2003Paper

Clinical research in the field of occupational diseases (pneumonology aspects)

La Medicina del lavoro
G Rivolta

Abstract

In the second half of the seventies, at the same time as the control of silicosis was achieved thanks to pathogenetic and preventive developments, the major efforts of the Clinica del Lavoro in the pneumological field were focused on studying dose-response relationship in asbestos-exposed subjects. Thus for the first time biological indicators (and not radiological ones) were mentioned for asbestos diseases. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) allowed to compare an internal dose indicator (number of bodies/ml) and schlerogenous effect indicators (dose-response). Our experience over nearly 20 years for exposure assessment in asbestos-related diseases, based on over 500 cases has produced the following results: parenchymial asbestosis is dose-dependent while pleural plaques are dose-independent; epidemiologic data on existence of asbestos resistant subjects were confirmed; asbestos bodies proved to persist in alveolar cavities for several decades. At present, with the ban of asbestos and the increase in forensic medicine cases regarding past asbestos exposures, our Department demonstrated the importance of asbestos body counting in BAL as an objective indicator of asbestos exposure. Besides the asbestos issue, two less frequent work-rel...Continue Reading

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