Evaluation of workers exposed to dust containing hard metals and aluminum oxide

Background: Fourteen workers exposed to hard metals and aluminum oxide were evaluated. Methods: Six heavily exposed workers underwent bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage, and five workers underwent transbronchial biopsy. Results: Microchemical analysis of transbronchial biopsies showed a high lung burden of exogenous particles, especially metals related to their hard metals exposure. Lung tissue and cellular changes, which were associated with exposure to hard metal and aluminum oxide, corresponded well with the microanalytic test results. Conclusions: Three workers had at biopsy diffuse interstitial inflammatory changes: two of them were asymptomatic with normal chest X-ray films, and one had clinically evident disease with severe giant cell inflammation. Two other workers showed focal inflammation. The worker showing clinical disease and one asymptomatic worker with interstitial inflammatory changes had elevated bronchoalveolar lavage fluid-eosinophilia counts. These two were father (with clinical disease) and son (asymptomatic).