PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mitchell J. Silver
AU  - David K. Young
TI  - Acute noncardiogenic pulmonary edema due to polymer fume fever
DP  - 1993 Nov 01
TA  - Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
PG  - 479--482
VI  - 60
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/60/6/479.short
4100  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/60/6/479.full
SO  - Cleve Clin J Med1993 Nov 01; 60
AB  - BACKGROUND Certain fluorocarbon polymers can produce a clinical syndrome called polymer fume fever when the products of pyrolysis are inhaled.SUMMARY A previously healthy 21-year-old white man presented with severe chest tightness, difficulty in breathing, pyrexia, nausea, vomiting, and a dry irritating cough. These symptoms occurred suddenly while smoking a cigarette 2 hours after leaving his place of work, where he is a plastics machinist. A chest roentgenogram revealed a bilateral patchy alveolar air space filling pattern involving the mid and lower lung fields. The diagnosis of polymer fume fever was established on the basis of the symptom complex, the association with cigarette smoking, and the occupational exposure to micronized polytetrafluoroethylene.CONCLUSIONS A thorough occupational and smoking history is necessary to recognize polymer fume disease, which may resemble influenza.