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Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.

Chronic beryllium disease is predominantly a pulmonary granulomatosis that was originally described in 1946. Symptoms usually include dyspnea and cough. Fever, anorexia, and weight loss are common. Skin lesions are the most common extrathoracic manifestation. Granulomatous hepatitis, hypercalcemia,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Rossman, M D
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 1996
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8933039
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author Rossman, M D
author_facet Rossman, M D
author_sort Rossman, M D
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description Chronic beryllium disease is predominantly a pulmonary granulomatosis that was originally described in 1946. Symptoms usually include dyspnea and cough. Fever, anorexia, and weight loss are common. Skin lesions are the most common extrathoracic manifestation. Granulomatous hepatitis, hypercalcemia, and kidney stones can also occur. Radiographic and physiologic abnormalities are similar to those in sarcoidosis. While traditionally the pathologic changes included granulomas and cellular interstitial changes, the hallmark of the disease today is the well-formed granuloma. Immunologic studies have demonstrated a cell-mediated response to beryllium that is due to an accumulation of CD4+ T cells at the site of disease activity. Diagnosis depends on the demonstration of pathologic changes (i.e., granuloma) and evidence that the granuloma was caused by a hypersensitivity to beryllium (i.e., positive lung proliferative response to beryllium). Using these criteria, the diagnosis of chronic beryllium disease can now be made before the onset of clinical symptoms. Whether, with early diagnosis, the natural course of this condition will be the same as when it was traditionally diagnosed is not known. Currently, corticosteroids are used to treat patients with significant symptoms or evidence of progressive disease.
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spelling pubmed-14696982006-06-01 Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management. Rossman, M D Environ Health Perspect Research Article Chronic beryllium disease is predominantly a pulmonary granulomatosis that was originally described in 1946. Symptoms usually include dyspnea and cough. Fever, anorexia, and weight loss are common. Skin lesions are the most common extrathoracic manifestation. Granulomatous hepatitis, hypercalcemia, and kidney stones can also occur. Radiographic and physiologic abnormalities are similar to those in sarcoidosis. While traditionally the pathologic changes included granulomas and cellular interstitial changes, the hallmark of the disease today is the well-formed granuloma. Immunologic studies have demonstrated a cell-mediated response to beryllium that is due to an accumulation of CD4+ T cells at the site of disease activity. Diagnosis depends on the demonstration of pathologic changes (i.e., granuloma) and evidence that the granuloma was caused by a hypersensitivity to beryllium (i.e., positive lung proliferative response to beryllium). Using these criteria, the diagnosis of chronic beryllium disease can now be made before the onset of clinical symptoms. Whether, with early diagnosis, the natural course of this condition will be the same as when it was traditionally diagnosed is not known. Currently, corticosteroids are used to treat patients with significant symptoms or evidence of progressive disease. 1996-10 /pmc/articles/PMC1469698/ /pubmed/8933039 Text en
spellingShingle Research Article
Rossman, M D
Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title_full Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title_fullStr Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title_full_unstemmed Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title_short Chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
title_sort chronic beryllium disease: diagnosis and management.
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8933039
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