A Case Report of Lung Cancer in a Horse Trainer Caused by Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica: An Exposure Assessment.
- Author:
Jin Ha YOON
1
;
Boowook KIM
;
Byung Soon CHOI
;
So Young PARK
;
Hyun Suk KWAG
;
In Ah KIM
;
Ji Yeon JEONG
Author Information
1. Occupational Lung Disease Institute, Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, Ansan, Korea. cbsoon@choi.com, labor7@gmail.com
- Publication Type:Case Report
- Keywords:
Lung cancer;
Quartz;
Risk assessment
- MeSH:
Continental Population Groups;
Crystallins;
Horses;
Humans;
Lung;
Lung Neoplasms;
Male;
Quartz;
Risk Assessment;
Silicon Dioxide;
Smoke;
Smoking;
Track and Field
- From:Safety and Health at Work
2013;4(1):71-74
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Here, we present a case of lung cancer in a 48-year-old male horse trainer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such case report to include an exposure assessment of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) as a quartz. The trainer had no family history of lung cancer. Although he had a 15 pack/year cigarette-smoking history, he had stopped smoking 12 years prior to his diagnosis. For the past 23 years, he had performed longeing, and trained 7-12 horses per day on longeing arena surfaces covered by recycled sands, the same surfaces used in race tracks. We investigated his workplace RCS exposure, and found it to be the likely cause of his lung cancer. The 8-hour time weight average range of RCS was 0.020 to 0.086 mg/m3 in the longeing arena. Horse trainers are exposed to RCS from the sand in longeing arenas, and the exposure level is high enough to have epidemiological ramifications for the occupational risk of lung cancer.
