[Occupational bronchopulmonary pathology caused by woodworking: diagnostic approach]

Woodworkers have a varied breathing pathology, with involvement of the upper airways mainly by ethmoidal cancers and rhinitis, tracheo-bronchitis with asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis due to wood moulds. The physiopathological mechanisms are numerous and often intricate: physical mechanism due to the irritant effect of wood dust, toxic mechanism caused by chemical substances which are present in wood dust or come from wood preservation products, immunological and allergic mechanism in which different allergens are concerned. Breathing pathology is the subject of 2 tables (No. 47 and 36) among those concerning occupational diseases. Lung function tests play an important role in the diagnosis of these diseases, with their 3 main objectives: search for airway obstruction, evaluation of bronchial hyperreactivity by means of non-specific challenge tests, and specific challenge tests performed in a laboratory or on the work site.