Physician pleads for research dollars to test silicosis therapy

It’s been called our biggest health crisis since asbestos, and as little as $2 million is needed to develop a potentially life-saving treatment.

AS LITTLE as $2 million is needed to fund a human trial into a potentially life-saving treatment for silicosis, described as the worst industrial health crisis since the asbestos epidemic.

Queensland respiratory physician Dan Chambers has called on politicians at both state and federal level for urgent research dollars to test the therapy on silicosis patients, labelling the amount required as “chicken feed” compared to the suffering the illness causes and the economic costs of “this disaster”.

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“We, as a group of lung researchers across the country, believe we can solve this problem fairly quickly if we can get research money,” he said. “I think there is genuine hope that there could be a transformational treatment. We just need a politician to help.”

Professor Chambers said the procedure, called whole lung lavage, had already been effectively used at The Prince Charles Hospital “a few times a year” for patients with a different respiratory disease, alveolar proteinosis.

He said the treatment was performed under a general anaesthetic while the patient was kept alive on a ventilator.

“We isolate the lungs and the patient breathes off one lung while the other is then washed out with 25 litres of salty water,” he said.

Respiratory physician Professor Dan Chambers (left) and scientist Dr Simon Apte at The Prince Charles Hospital. They have been working on research aimed at benefiting silicosis patients but more research funding is needed for a human trial.

Professor Chambers said scientists at The Prince Charles Hospital had developed a world-first test to measure the amount of silica in a patient’s lung which could be used to assess the success of the lavage in reducing the amount of crystal.

If the treatment is effective, patients could then have the procedure performed on the other lung.

Respiratory specialist Professor Dan Chambers (right) speaking with scientist Dr Simon Apte at The Prince Charles Hospital. Dr Chambers has called for urgent research dollars to fund a human trial into a potential treatment for silicosis. Picture: Sarah Marshall/AAP

Although isolated cases of silicosis patients overseas being treated with whole lung lavage have been reported in medical journals, Professor Chambers said the effectiveness of the treatment was difficult to gauge because of the small numbers.

Dozens of young Queensland stonemasons have been diagnosed with silicosis related to engineered stone products, including 15 whose disease has been described as terminal. Most are aged between 20 and 40 and some have young families.

“Similar epidemics have occurred in Israel and Spain and other parts of the world,” Professor Chambers said.

Unless an alternative treatment is found, the only option for patients with terminal silicosis is lung transplantation.

Double lung transplantation is considered a last resort, given a ten-year survival of only about 40 per cent.

Long waiting lists for organ donation also mean some patients die before they receive donor lungs.

To donate to research at The Prince Charles Hospital: tpchfoundation.org.au