Silicosis Progression Monitoring Protocol

Patients were enrolled to this study according to the following inclusion criteria: (1) aged between 18 and 70 years; (2) exposed to AS dust while cutting, grinding, and drilling AS slabs before visiting hospital; (3) diagnosed as silicosis; (4) removed from continued dust exposure; and (5) had more than one chest HRCT examination performed. A total of 284 patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients with comorbidities such as tuberculous mycobacterial infection, lung tumor, respiratory infection, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and asthma were excluded. Patients with other interstitial lung diseases or those with heart, brain, liver, kidney, and other organ dysfunction were also excluded. After exclusion, 89 patients were left, in which 47 patients were of observation group and 42 of control group (Figure 1).