Germ cell tumors of the testicle among aircraft repairmen.
A cluster of testicular germ cell tumors occurred among 3 of 153 white men who worked in a shop engaged in repair of exterior surfaces and electrical components of the airframes of F4 Phantom Jet aircraft. Evaluation of an occupationally identical shop at a second F4 rework facility at which there had been no previous reports of excess neoplasms revealed 4 additional men with a history of testicular germ cell tumors (p less than 0.01, Poisson, compared to the expected number of cases based on national incidence rates). Our investigation raises but does not prove a hypothesis of association between subsequent development of testicular germ cell cancer and history of extensive exposure to a mixture containing dimethylformamide, which had been used in F4 repair work at these facilities in the 1960s and 1970s. This represents the first report of 2 corresponding mini-epidemics of testicular tumors among workers in occupationally identical industrial settings.
D000401:Aircraft; D004126:Dimethylformamide / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013029:Space-Time Clustering; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States
D004126:Dimethylformamide