RT journal article
T1 High metabolic activity in positron emission tomography and systemic inflammation occurring years after exposure cessation in engineered stone silicosis
A1 León Jiménez, Antonio
A1 Rodríguez Rubio Corona, Julio
A1 Jiménez-Gómez, Gema
A1 Piñero Fernández Reyes, María Luisa
A1 HidalgoMolina, Antonio
A1 Pajares Vinardel, Magdalena
A1 Conde Sánchez, Miguel Ángel
A1 Campos Caro, Antonio
A1 Sánchez Morillo, Daniel
A2 BiomedicinaBiotecnología y Salud Pública
A2 Ingeniería en AutomáticaElectrónica, Arquitectura y Redes de Computadores
K1 Silicosis
K1 Engineered stone
K1 Systemic inflammatory indices
K1 Lymphocyte subsets
K1 Positron emission tomography
AB Engineered stone silicosis is an interstitial lung disease that progresses rapidly; in many cases, it can cause respiratory insufficiency and death. The metabolic activities occurring in the lungs and adenopathies, as well as their relationships with systemic inflammation, are unknown. Patients with complicated silicosis were enrolled in this study. All of the patients had worked for at least 5 years in finishing and installing engineered stone and had not been exposed to these working conditions for at least 7 years. Clinical data measurements, positron emission tomography/computed tomography using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG PET/CT), respiratory function tests and blood samples were performed. The mean age of the patients was 44 ± 5.4 years. Moreover, the average exposure duration was 10.94 ± 3.2 years, and the average number of years from cessation of exposure was 11.6 ± 1.6 years. The average maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of large opacities was 6.32 ± 3. All of the patients demonstrated hypermetabolic mediastinal lymphadenopathies, and 88.2% of the patients also demonstrated extrathoracic lymphadenopathies. The SUVmax of the large opacities was correlated with fibrinogen (ρ = 0.717, P = 0.001), the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (ρ = − 0.506, P = 0.038), the systemic inflammatory response index (ρ = 0.559, P = 0.02) and CD4+NKT cells. Large areas of lung opacity and lymphadenopathies exhibited high metabolic activities years after the cessation of silica exposure. The relationships between metabolic activity and several inflammatory factors may lead to the exploration of new therapeutic targets.
PB Nature Portfolio
SN 2045-2322
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37333
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37333
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 09-may-2026