Carbon disulfide(CS2), a volatile solvent, has been widely used in the manufacture of the artificial silk because of its highly fat-soluble property. It has been accepted that CSz is mostly absorbed to the human beings by inhalation arld does harms mainly to the central and peripheral nervous systems and the cardiovascular system. But it is conkoversial whether the pathologic changes are due to the direct toxic effects of the CS2 or to the secondary effects of the CS2-induced arteriosclerosis. Recently the authors have observed the six patients of viscose-rayon worker with a longstanding exposure to the CS2 and obtained the results as follows:1. The ages of onset in the 6 subjects (5 males and one female) were ranged from @41 to 53 years(mean;47.1) and the duration of exposure from 11 to 18 years(mean;l4.5). 2. Three of them had no hypertension. 3. Neurologically they showed headache, dizziness, general malaise, gait difficulty, visual and memory disturbances, paresthesia of distal extremities, dementia, parkinsonian features, pseudobubar palsy, spastic gait, dysarthria, hyperreflexia, and reduced or absent ankle jerks. 4. Nerve conduction studies(N=4) revealed that three of them had polyneuropathy of axonal type.
Ankle ; Arteriosclerosis ; Axons ; Carbon* ; Cardiovascular System ; Dementia ; Dizziness ; Dysarthria ; Extremities ; Gait ; Gait Disorders, Neurologic ; Headache ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Inhalation ; Male ; Memory ; Neural Conduction ; Paralysis ; Paresthesia ; Peripheral Nervous System ; Polyneuropathies ; Reflex, Abnormal ; Silk