High metabolic activity in positron emission tomography and systemic inflammation occurring years after exposure cessation in engineered stone silicosis

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 ¹⁸ F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( ¹⁸ F-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.