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6705105 
Book/Book Chapter 
Long-term occupational lead exposure and chronic nephropathy 
Nedelescu, M; Baconi, DL; Stan, M; Vlasceanu, AM; Ciobanu, AM 
2018 
Filodiritto 
Bologna, Italy 
21st century pharmacy - Between intelligent specialization and social responsibility 
140-144 
English 
Introduction: Exposure to heavy metals has been known for thousands of years. In particular, exposure to lead is considered one of the oldest occupational exposures. Chronic lead exposure can affect a variety of organs in the body, including the kidney, producing a chronic interstitial nephritis. The incidence of lead poisoning has decreased dramatically over the past decades due to legislative efforts to prevent environmental and occupational contamination, thereby reducing population exposure. Currently, symptomatic lead intoxication has become extremely rare, few cases being reported in occupationally exposed people.

Material and method: In this paper we report two cases of male workers in a metallurgical company with repeated episodes of clinical lead poisoning associated with renal function impairment.

Results: Two male patients aged 55 and 45 years were hospitalized in an occupational medicine clinic, presenting asthenia, fatigue, pollakiuria and dysuria. The following findings have contributed to diagnosis of occupational lead poisoning: history of long-term professional exposure to lead compounds (35 years, respectively 21 years), elevated blood lead levels (64,5 mu g/dL; 47,4 mu g/dL) and a urinary excretion of 410 mu g, respectively 106,2 mu g lead /72h after a mobilisation test by a Ca-Na2+-EDTA chelating agent. Moderate anemia and impaired renal function associated with elevated serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and uric acid are present in both patients.

Conclusions: Chronic nephropathy is one manifestation of occupational lead poisoning, especially in the case of long-term exposure. Lead chelation and urinary excretion is helpful both in the diagnosis and the treatment of this disease. 
heavy metals; lead; nephrotoxicity; occupational exposure; chelation therapy; Copp Mica 
Draganescu, D; Arsene, A 
The Romanian National Congress of Pharmacy - 17th Edition 
9788885813281 
17th Romanian National Congress of Pharmacy 
Bucharest, Romania 
September 26-29, 2018