Abstract |
Twenty life-long nonsmoking West Virginia coal-miners participated in a study to amplify the role of focal irregularities on regional ventilation (V) and perfusion (Q) and to develop an improved method for the early detection of coal-workers' pneumoconiosis. Their mean age was 59.3 yr and they averaged 35.2 years' exposure to coal dust. Conventional pulmonary function tests were supplemented by measurement of V, Q and lung volume (V), using radioactive Kr-81m, Tc-99m MAA and Xe-127, respectively, to determine regional abnormalities in lung function. A computer analysis of the regional distributions of V/V, Q/V and V/Q was performed, and their topographical distributions and indices of heterogeneity (HI) computed. V/V and Q/V were significantly reduced in the lower third, and increased in the upper two-thirds of the miners' lungs; V/Q was reduced in the upper half. The miners' V/V and Q/V were more heterogeneous (p less than 0.001) than that of eleven age-matched controls, with mean ventilation HI values of 0.190 +/- 0.027 and 0.133 +/- 0.011, respectively, and mean perfusion HI values of 0.206 +/- 0.022 and 0.164 +/- 0.041, respectively. P(A-a)O2 correlated positively (r = 0.72; p less than 0.001) with ventilation HI. Gas exchange was the most significant functional measurement, being abnormal in 19/20 subjects. In contrast, conventional spirometric measurements were within the predicted normal limits in all but four miners.
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Authors | H Susskind, J C Acevedo, J Iwai, D L Rasmussen, D K Heydinger, H R Pate, W H Harold, A B Brill |
Journal | The European respiratory journal
(Eur Respir J)
Vol. 1
Issue 3
Pg. 232-41
(Mar 1988)
ISSN: 0903-1936 [Print] England |
PMID | 3384076
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)
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Topics |
- Adult
- Aged
- Coal Mining
- Female
- Humans
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Pneumoconiosis
(diagnostic imaging, physiopathology)
- Radionuclide Imaging
- Respiratory Function Tests
- Smoking
(physiopathology)
- Spirometry
- Ventilation-Perfusion Ratio
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