RESUMO
BACKGROUND: To elucidate the relationship between seven occupational dermatoses (ODs) and 20 types of work in Greece. METHODS: This was a prevalence epidemiologic study of certain ODs among 4,000 workers employed in 20 types of enterprise, in 104 companies, in 2006-2012, using data from company medical records, questionnaires, occupational medical, and special examinations. The χ(2) test was applied to reveal statistically significant relationships between types of enterprises and occurrence of ODs. RESULTS: A high percentage (39.9%) of employees included in the study population suffered from ODs. The highest prevalence rates were noted among hairdressers (of contact dermatitis: 30%), cooks (of contact dermatitis: 29.5%), bitumen workers (of acne: 23.5%), car industry workers (of mechanical injury: 15%), construction workers (of contact urticaria: 29.5%), industrial cleaning workers (of chemical burns: 13%), and farmers (of malignant tumors: 5.5%). We observed several statistical significant correlations between ODs (acute and chronic contact dermatitis, urticaria, mechanical injury, acne, burns, skin cancer) and certain types of enterprises. There was no statistically significant correlation between gender and prevalence of ODs, except for dermatoses caused by mechanical injuries afflicting mainly men [χ(2) (1) = 13.40, p < 0.001] and for chronic contact dermatitis [χ(2) (1) = 5.53, p = 0.019] afflicting mainly women. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of ODs is high in Greece, contrary to all official reports by the Greek National Institute of Health. There is a need to introduce a nationwide voluntary surveillance system for reporting ODs and to enhance skin protection measures at work.
RESUMO
Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) has been used for the detection of neuroendocrine tumors. Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes, considered to derive from the neural crest. As the prognosis of melanoma is very poor, early detection of the disease, of recurrences and of distal metastases, is important. The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical impact of indium-111-diaethyleno triamino pentaacetic acid-d-phe1-octreotide ((111)In-DTPA-octreotide or octreoscan or (111)In-O) in the management of melanoma patients after first diagnosis and first surgery and during three years of follow-up. We have studied 35 patients 20 female and 15 male, with histological proven melanoma. Scintigraphic images with single photon emission tomography gamma-camera (Millenium GE-USA) were performed after the administration of 220MBq (111)In-O. The scintigraphic data were compared to axial computerized tomography (CT). Patients were followed for 3 years after the initial diagnosis and surgery. Our results showed that during the 3 years follow-up period, 26/35 patients had a clinical recurrence. Twenty of them had positive (111)In-O scans with 56 lesions mainly metastatic, while 6 had negative scans. The CT scans showed only 31/56 lesions. In conclusion, SRS with (111)In-O, for diagnosing metastases from malignant melanoma, showed a sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 94% respectively and within the 3 years of follow-up, the stage of melanoma and surgical strategies were modified by 48% and 32%, respectively. Twenty five tumor sites, unsuspected by CT were visualized by (111)In-O.
