Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Silicosis chest x ray
Introduction
Overview
Overview
- A chest radiograph is obtained in virtually all patients undergoing evaluation for silicosis. It will confirm the presence of nodules in the lungs, especially in the upper lobes.
Chest X Ray
Chest X Ray
- In acute silicosis, the chest radiograph demonstrates characteristic
- Bilateral consolidation,
- Typically symmetrical
- Diffuse ground glass opacities which may be perihilar or basilar [1][2].
- These features may progress from a pattern of lower zone opacities to large masses of coalesced parenchymal tissue in the mid and lower zones, which are typically bilateral but not always symmetrical [1].
- The typical chest radiograph finding in chronic simple silicosis is the presence of many small round opacities of
- Less than 10 mm in diameter,
- Distributed predominantly in the upper lung zones.
- Progressive massive fibrosis also known as conglomerate silicosis occurs when these small opacities gradually enlarge and coalesce to form larger opacities
- Of more than 10 mm in diameter .
- Asymmetrical, and may mimic a neoplastic process.
- And associated with upper lobe fibrosis and lower lobe hyperinflation.
- Hilar adenopathy with prominent eggshell calcification[3] is present in up to 5 percent of workers with silicosis.
- Cavitation may also be present in advanced disease or in the setting of mycobacterial superinfection.
References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Duchange L, Brichet A, Lamblin C, Tillie I, Tonnel AB, Wallaert B (1998). “[Acute silicosis. Clinical, radiologic, functional, and cytologic characteristics of the broncho-alveolar fluids. Observations of 6 cases]”. Rev Mal Respir. 15 (4): 527–34. PMID 9805764.
- ↑ Dee P, Suratt P, Winn W (1978). “The radiographic findings in acute silicosis”. Radiology. 126 (2): 359–63. doi:10.1148/126.2.359. PMID 622482.
- ↑ Gera K, Pilaniya V, Shah A (2014). “Silicosis: progressive massive fibrosis with eggshell calcification”. BMJ Case Rep. 2014. doi:10.1136/bcr-2014-206376. PMID 25260430.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aparna Vuppala, M.B.B.S. [2]