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- Hematological Changes of Welders.
- Choong Ryeol Lee, Cheol In Yoo, Ji Ho Lee, Jeong Hak Kang, Hun Lee
- Korean J Prev Med. 1999;32(2):141-146.
- 1,979 View
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Abstract
PDF - OBJECTIVES
To ascertain whether some result of hematological examination could be as reference data for health management of welders. METHOD: The authors conducted the hematological examination of 1,018 welders and 531 control workers of a shipbuilding industry in Ulsan using automatic blood analyzer. RESULTS: The WBC count of welders was lower than that of control on controlling the age and the duration of employment, but changes of other blood cells were not observed. CONCLUSION: We could use the results of hematological examination such as WBC counts as an indicator for subtle changes of health status of welders. -
SummaryTOP
- A Case of Metal Fume Fever Associated with Copper Fume in a Welder.
- Hyun Sul Lim, hae Kwan Cheong
- Korean J Prev Med. 1998;31(3):414-423.
- 2,899 View
- 53 Download
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Abstract
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- Metal fume fever has been known as an occupational disease is induced by intense inhalation of fresh metal fume with a particle size smaller than 0.5 nm to 1 nm. The fumes originate from heating metals beyond their boiling point, as happens, for example, in welding operations. Oxidation usually accompanies this process. In most cases, this syndrome is due to exposure to zinc oxide fumes; however, other metals like copper, magnesium, cadmium, manganese, and antimony are also reported to produce such reactions. Authors report a case of metal fume fever suspected to be associated with copper fume inhalation. The patient was a 42-year-old male and was a smoker. He conducted inert gas tungsten arc welding on copper-coated materials without safety precautions such as a protective mask and adequate ventilation. Immediately after work, he felt metallic taste in his mouth. A few hours after welding, he developed headache, chilling sensation, and chest discomfort. He also complained of myalgia, arthralgia, feverish sensation, thirst, and general weakness. Symptoms worsened after repeated copper welding on the next day and subsided gradually following two weeks. Laboratory examination showed a transient increase of neutrophil count, eosinophilia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and positive C-reactive proteinemia. Blood and urine copper level was also increased compared to his wife. Before this episode, he experienced above complaints several times after welding with copper materials but welding of other metals did not produce any symptoms. It was suggested that copper fume would have induced metal fume fever in this case. Further investigations are needed to clarify their pathogenic mechanisms.
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Summary
- A Study on the Size of Dust in Workplaces of a Shipyard.
- Choong Ryeol Lee, Cheol In Ryu
- Korean J Prev Med. 1998;31(1):104-111.
- 1,864 View
- 20 Download
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Abstract
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- To obtain the basic information that can be used as a factor for explaining the diversity of welders' pneumoconiosis, the authors measured the concentrations of dust according to the size of dust in 71 workplaces of a shipyard where welders' pneumoconiosis have occurred. The concentrations of dust according to the size of dust showed no difference between workplaces regardless of kinds of work.
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Summary
- Diagnostic Meaning of High Resolution Computed Tomography Compared with Chest Radiography for Screening of Welder's lung.
- J H Kang, J H Chun, H W Gu, K S Ko, B C Yu, H S Sohn, J T Lee
- Korean J Prev Med. 1996;29(4):853-862.
- 1,948 View
- 18 Download
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Abstract
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- Pneumoconiosis is one of the major problem in the field of occupational health at Korea. Therefore, the efficient diagnosis of pneumoconiosis is a hot issue on the occupational health program. The author executed this study to estimate the diagnostic value of high resolution computed tomography(HRCT) compared with chest radiography for screening of welder's lung. HRCT was introduced very recently for the diagnosis of pneumoconiosis, however, the diagnostic value for screening of welder's lung-principally nonfibrogenic and reversible-has not been evaluated. The subjects were fifty cases of welder's lung or suspected cases who had been collected between 1989 and 1994 from one shipyard and continuously followed-up on the basis of in-plant periodic health check program. We applied both chest radiography and HRCT on the same subjects from May 1 to 30, 1996. The images were evaluated by two careered radiologists independently. The findings of chest radiography were classified into four category by ILO classification, and the findings of HRCT according to the criteria of Bergin et al. The concordance between two radiologists expressed with Kendall's tau-b was 0.72 by chest radiography and 0.44 by HRCT- that is, interobserver variation of HRCT was bigger than that of chest radiography. The concordance between the two different methods was highly variable as 0.44 by radiologist A and 0.06 by radiologist B- that is, interobserver variation was very big. However, HRCT looked more detectable for the minor parenchymal change. These findings suggested that it is not appropriate to use HRCT routinely for screening of welder's lung due to lack of diagnostic criteria, and feasibility, acceptability and economic aspects. Nevertheless, HRCT might be recommendable in the case of equivocal parenchymal features on the chest radiography, unexplained respiratory symptoms, and/or lung function abnormalities suggestive of interstitial fibrosis.
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