- Directly related to total exposure to coal dust
- It results from inhalation of coal dust over 15-20 years
- can progress despite cessation of exposure to dust, there is no specific treatment. Patients will eventually develop pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale
- Two types:
- Simple coalworker’s pneumoconiosis – small aggregates of coal particles, dispersed by evident on CXR as multinodular mottling – not associated with significant symptoms
- Complicated – progressive massive fibrosis – large black fibrotic masses in parenchyma (coal dust + bundles of collagen), typically found in upper zones (look like bizarre opacities on CXR)
- Lesions can become cavitated → expectoration of black sputum (melanopytsis) “the black lung”
- Results in:
- severe dyspnoea
- restrictive lung disease
- impaired gas diffusion
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