RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Acute noncardiogenic pulmonary edema due to polymer fume fever
JF Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
JO Cleve Clin J Med
FD Cleveland Clinic
SP 479
OP 482
VO 60
IS 6
A1 Mitchell J. Silver
A1 David K. Young
YR 1993
UL http://www.ccjm.org/content/60/6/479.abstract
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.