Diagnosis

Silicosis

Your doctor will make a diagnosis of silicosis after examining changes in chest x-ray's and free exposure to silica. In an x-ray a patient diagnosed with silicosis will have several sizes of opacities found in the chest area.

Depending on the abundance of round opacities the doctor will categorize the level of silicosis as 1, 2, or 3. Silicosis may closely resemble other disease such as Military TB, hemosiderosis, sarcoidosis, and coal workers pneumoconiosis. The key sign that sets silicosis apart form these other diseases is the presence of eggshell calcification in the lymph nodes.