The clinical treatment of silicosis remains a major challenge. With the rapid advancement of research in traditional Chinese medicine, increasing evidence suggests that traditional Chinese medicine exerts a unique holistic regulatory effect in the prevention and treatment of silicosis. The mechanisms of treatment effects involve inhibition of inflammatory responses, suppression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, regulation of macrophage polarization, inhibition of apoptosis and oxidative stress, modulation of immune responses, improvement of pulmonary microecology, regulation of ferroptosis, and interference with urinary metabolic pathways. These effects are mediated through multiple signaling pathways, including the transforming growth factor-β1/mothers against decapentaplegic homolog pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/nuclear factor-κB pathway, and Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway. Compound traditional Chinese medicine formulations provide systemic regulatory effects, whereas monomeric components exhibit precise target specificity. Their combination may facilitate the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. However, current studies on traditional Chinese medicine therapy for silicosis face several limitations, including the lack of standardized dosages and toxicological data in basic research, unclear mechanisms of action, insufficient clinical evidence and difficult to advance into clinical development, limited clinical sample sizes, short follow-up durations, and incomplete efficacy evaluation systems. Future research should focus on elucidating the mechanisms of action of traditional Chinese medicine in silicosis, conducting high-quality clinical trials, establishing integrative efficacy evaluation criteria for traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and promoting the translational application of basic research findings to clinical practice.

Objective: To understand the occupational hazard and distribution of silica dust (free SiO₂≥10%) in the workplace environment of the enterprises in Fengxian District, and to provide scientific basis for improving the working environment and protecting the physical and mental health of the workers. Methods: Individual sampling monitoring and on-site labor hygiene investigation were conducted on 421 workers involved in 87 silicon dust enterprises in the jurisdiction from 2014 to 2018, and measured concentration-time weighted average (C_TWA) . Results: The results showed that the range of the C_TWA was (0.021~17.000) mg/m³, the median was 1.600 mg/m³, and the qualified rate of 30.88%. The difference of total dust concentration was statistically significant in different years (Z=38.831, P<0.05) . The qualified rate of small-scale enterprises is higher than that of medium-scale enterprises (χ²=9.472, P<0.05) . The qualified rate of other domestic enterprises is higher than that of private enterprises and foreign enterprises (χ²=10.089, P<0.05) . The acceptance rate of metal products manufacturing is lower than that of general equipment manufacturing and other manufacturing enterprises (χ²=64.626, P<0.05) . The qualification rate of natural ventilation is higher than that of mechanical ventilation (χ²=6.278, P<0.05) . Conclusion The enterprises involved in silicon production in Fengxian District need to further strengthen the production process reform and improve the ventilation and dust removal protection measures. Widely carry out the publicity of occupational disease prevention and control law, conduct targeted pre-job training, improve workers' awareness of self-protection, and protect the occupational health of workers in many ways.