title: Prevalence of occupational hazards in patients with different types of epithelial sinonasal cancers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Occupational exposure to carcinogens contributes greatly to the etiology of sinonasal cancer (SNC), but the role of different risk factors in determining different histological subtypes is disputed.
  
  
  METHODS
  All consecutive surgical epithelial SNC cases (case-series study) underwent a systematic occupational medicine examination to determine previous exposure to a wide range of work-related chemical hazards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We investigated 65 SNC cases including intestinal-type adenocarcinoma [ITAC] squamous-cell carcinoma [SCC], and others. Occupational exposure was recognized for 39 cases. Occupational exposures were sensibly more frequent among ITAC than among SCC or other histotypes. Occupational exposure in ITAC cases was to leather or wood dust only, while among non-ITAC cases, we recognised exposure to formaldehyde, solvents and metal fumes. A high proportion of SNC with occupational exposure originated in the ethmoidal epithelium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our case-series of SNC, a very high frequency of previous occupational exposure to carcinogens was detected, suggesting that occupational hazards may be associated to the aetiopathogenesis, primarily for ITAC, but also for other histotypes. Besides leather or wood, other chemical agents must be recognized as occupational risk factors.
authors: University of Insubria, Varese, Italy. matteo.bonzini@uninsubria.it
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Bonzini
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Battaglia
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Parassoni
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Casa
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Facchinetti
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Turri-Zanoni
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Borchini
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Castelnuovo
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Ferrario
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010255:Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances