Exposure‒response relationships for silicosis and its progression in industrial sand workers.

Objectives This study aimed to characterize the relationship between radiographic silicosis and exposure to respirable quartz and determine how exposure affects disease progression. Methods Surveillance chest radiographs from a cohort of 1902 workers were examined to identify 67 cases of radiographic silicosis and 167 matched controls. Exposures were estimated by linking work histories to a job exposure matrix (JEM) based on samples collected by the participating companies and historical estimates.

Reliability of the proposed international classification of high-resolution computed tomography for occupational and environmental respiratory diseases.

Purpose: We have developed a classification of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) images for screening, surveillance and epidemiological studies of respiratory diseases caused by occupational and environmental factors. The proposed classification consists of three parts: a guideline explaining the elements of the classification scheme, a reading sheet, and reference films to aid in assessing thin-section CT films. We assessed the reliability of the proposed classification system by blinded, independent trial reading.

Aggressive and atypical manifestations of Erdheim-Chester disease.

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a disseminated non-Langerhans' cell histiocytosis with multisystem involvement, including characteristic sclerotic musculoskeletal lesions. We present the case of a 27-year-old woman with a fulminant course and atypical involvement by ECD manifesting as extensive cerebrovascular disease and lytic musculoskeletal lesions. This case represents an unusual and aggressive presentation of ECD owing to the patient's young age, the severity of the cerebrovascular involvement and the lytic osseous lesions.

International Labor Office Classification System in the age of imaging: relevant or redundant.

The 1980 International Labor Office International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses is a widely used epidemiologic tool with a storied past. This article reviews its development and examines its applications to occupational lung disease and the controversies generated in that process. The question of its relevancy to current imaging practices is discussed.