PROGNOSIS.—The prognosis depends very largely upon the withdrawal of the sufferer from an unhealthy environment. In each single case the inherited tendencies, the personal constitution and habits, must be the basis for an opinion upon the gravity of the pulmonary processes and the possibilities of restoration to health. The progress of the disease may be materially retarded or arrested by withdrawal from the occupation involving the inspiration of dust, and restoration to comparative health after years of invalidism is possible for these victims of dusty avocations, even after serious damage has taken place in the lung, if suitable hygienic conditions can be obtained.
TREATMENT.—The treatment of pneumonokoniosis divides itself into the prophylactive and the curative. In works devoted to the hygiene of occupation careful directions are given in reference to methods designed to prevent the dust from entering the respiratory passages. This is partly accomplished by the use of masks or respirators, which possess the obvious disadvantages of clumsiness and interference with respiration. Various devices may be employed in different avocations to prevent the generation of dust, but the most practical plans consist in thoroughly ventilating the atmosphere, and thus preventing the dust from reaching the artisan. Aside from these, the management of the various pathological conditions must be based upon the general principles which govern the treatment of pulmonary processes.
CANCER OF THE LUNGS.
BY EDWARD T. BRUEN, M.D.
DEFINITION.—A malignant disease affecting the pulmonary tissues. (Vide also [MEDIASTINAL DISEASE].)
SYNONYMS.—Fr. Carcinome du poumon; Ger. Lungenkrebs.
ETIOLOGY.—Carcinomatous disease affecting the lung-tissue is exceedingly rare as a primary process, and exhibits only a feeble inclination to inoculate other portions of the body. In the majority of cases the mediastinal glands are first affected, or it appears in the lungs as secondary to disease elsewhere in the system. Metastasis is probably effected by means of particles of living cellular material which are transferred through the blood-vessels or lymphatics.