Silicosis: Detection tools and their utility in occupational medicine

Herramientas de detección y su utilidad en medicina laboral.

Abstract

Pneumoconiosis is an occupational disease, its word derives from the Greek pneuma: air and kovni: dust. It is characterized by a marked progressive fibrosis of the lung.1 Silicosis is currently the most common of pneumoconiosis, this disease is detected by conventional chest imaging, classified according to its natural evolution. Quartz, a mineral composed of silica that corresponds to 60% of the earth's crust, is found in many igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. The inhalation of silica and its contact with the pulmonary alveolus can produce a local and immunological reaction, the pathogenesis and evolution of which depends on the individual condition of the person is exposed to inorganic solid residues.2