Interstitial pulmonary disorders in indium-processing workers

¹ Dept of Medicine, Nikko Memorial Hospital
² Dept of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Keio University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ttchonan{at}mbd.ocn.ne.jp.

	Abstract

For the manufacture of liquid crystal panels, the production of indium tin oxide has increased. Faced with reports of interstitial pneumonia that occurred in two indium-processing workers, we evaluated whether interstitial pulmonary disorders were prevalent among indium workers.

The study was carried out in 108 male workers in the indium plant where the above mentioned two patients were employed and included high-resolution computerized tomographic scan (HRCT) of the lungs, pulmonary function tests and analysis of serum sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6 and the serum indium concentration.

Significant interstitial changes were observed in twenty-three indium workers on HRCT and serum KL-6 was abnormally high (>500 U·mL^-1) in 40 workers. Workers with serum indium concentrations in the highest quartile had significantly longer exposure periods, greater HRCT changes, lower diffusing capacity and higher KL-6 levels as compared with those in the lowest quartile. The serum indium concentration was positively correlated with the KL-6 level (r=0.70, p<0.0001) and with the degree of HRCT changes.

These results indicated that serum KL-6 and HRCT abnormalities were prevalent among the indium workers and that these abnormalities increased with the indium burden, suggesting that inhaled indium could be a new potential cause of occupational lung disease.

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