Chronic Arsenicosis with Atypical Pulmonary Presentation
Mohammed Kamrul Hasan1, Mohammad Ruhul Alam1, Md Khairul Hassan Jessy2,Jalal Mohsin Uddin3, AHM Raihanuzzaman Sarkar4
Abstract
Arsenic is an element which occurs naturally in the earth’s crust and in small quantities in rock, soil, water
and air. Chronic arsenic toxicity produces various dermal and systemic manifestation including cancer. It
may also cause different pulmonary disease. Here we report a case of a 42 year old male who was a known
case of chronic arsenicosis presented with chronic cough and shortness of breath. After meticulous workup
we found pulmonary fibrosis as a cause of his dyspnoea. Obstructive lung diseases and malignancies are
common in arsenicosis but pulmonary fibrosis very rare. By exclusion of other causes by history, examination
and investigation we concluded that this was a case of pulmonary fibrosis due to chronic arsenicosis. To
the best of our knowledge only few case of pulmonary fibrosis due to chronic arsenicosis has been reported.
Keywords: Arsenicosis, Pulmonary fibrosis.