US EPA

2800804 

Journal Article 

Scleroderma after occupational exposure to trichlorethylene and trichlorethane 

Flindt-Hansen, H; Isager, H 

1987 

Yes 

Acta Dermato-Venereologica
ISSN: 0001-5555
EISSN: 1651-2057 

67 

3 

263-264 

English 

2442944 

WOS:A1987H815200016 

Three cases of scleroderma were linked to occupational exposure to trichloroethylene (79016) and trichloroethane (71556). All three patients had used trichloroethylene or trichloroethane, two of them both, to degrease metallic items or high voltage cables. A 52 year old man had an 18 month history of hand involvement. He had worked with both solvents for 12 years; although he usually worked outdoors, he did not use any hand protection. The second case was a 63 year old man with a 10 year development of severe symptoms, including systemic signs. He had left his job 4 years earlier, after working with both solvents in an open container in a poorly ventilated room. The third case was a 25 year old man with a 3 year history of peripheral and systemic symptoms and a 4 year history of working with trichloroethylene without gloves and in poor ventilation. All three cases were classified as definite systemic sclerosis. The authors suggest that exposure to these solvents may be an etiological factor in the clinical syndromes classified as systemic sclerosis.