[Imaging in occupational lung diseases].

This chapter consists of a review of the literature regarding radiographic and tomographic characteristics of the principal occupational respiratory diseases (silicosis and asbestosis). Special attention is given to the practical relevance of high-resolution computed tomography, which is the most sensitive and specific method of identifying and quantifying the extent of pleural and parenchymal lesions related to such diseases.

Pleural plaques in asbestos-exposed workers: reproducibility of a new high-resolution CT visual semiquantitative measurement method.

Objective: To assess the reproducibility of a new high-resolution computed tomography (CT) visual semiquantitative method for pleural plaques in asbestos-exposed workers.

Material And Methods: We performed thin-section CT in 752 chrysotile asbestos mining workers and ex-workers. Institutional review board approval and signed written informed consent from subjects were obtained.