https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2022.2345

A 44-year-old stone worker with progressive dyspnea: lessons from a new twist on an old foe

Vol. 93 No. 2 (2023)
Submitted: June 2, 2022
Accepted: August 17, 2022
Published: September 13, 2022
Artificial stone worker, acute silicosis, silicoproteinosis, silicosis, whole lung lavage
Abstract Views: 985
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Authors

Ravi Manglani
drravipm@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6307-6040
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY, United States.
Sara Akbar
Department of Medicine, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY, United States.
Mary Beth Beasley
Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-Based Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Oleg Epelbaum
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6920-0540
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY, United States.

Silicosis is typically an indolent lung disease caused by long-standing occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica, classically in professions such as sandblasting and mining.  An increasingly popular industry that has earned particular interest because of its association with silicosis is customization and installation of artificial stone countertops for domestic applications. In addition to causing a spike in cases of chronic and accelerated silicosis, both quite familiar to respiratory clinicians, outbreaks of artificial stone silicosis have brought to the fore a historically rare entity known as acute silicosis, or silicoproteinosis, a more rapid presentation of the disease. Failure to suspect this uncommon condition can lead to diagnostic confusion and therefore ineffective treatment as was true initially of the patient we describe herein.  The case description is followed by a clinical, radiological, and pathological overview of acute artificial stone silicosis (or silicoproteinosis), which is an emerging pneumoconiosis with sparse coverage in the literature to date.  This case also adds to the few existing reports on the use of therapeutic whole lung lavage for silicoproteinosis.      

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How to Cite

Manglani, Ravi, Sara Akbar, Mary Beth Beasley, and Oleg Epelbaum. 2022. “A 44-Year-Old Stone Worker With Progressive Dyspnea: Lessons from a New Twist on an Old Foe”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 93 (2). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2022.2345.
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