Longitudinal study of the radiology of coal workers' pneumoconiosis

Summary In fifteen hundred sixty-one radiographs from 318 coal workers with different grades of pneumoconiosis, the prevalence of perinodular, perinodal, and generalized emphysema has been examined. Furthermore, the prevalence of enlarged hili was determined. These data have been correlated with age and the type, number and density of small pneumoconiotic opacities and with the size and localization of large pneumoconiotic opacities.Some form of emphysema was found in 86.7% of all radiographs, most frequently in the form of generalized emphysema (63.6%). The prevalence increases with severity of pneumoconiosis. The same holds for enlarged hili.With support of the European Communities, Luxembourg