The association: scleroderma-silicosis or Erasmus' syndrome (author's transl)

Classically more common in women, scleroderma nevertheless affects with predilection men exposed to the inhalation of silica particles. The association scleroderma-silicosis is essentially a statistical finding. It has no particular clinical, radiological nor histological distinguishing characteristics, other than the syndromic juxtaposition of the stigmata of each of the two disorders. This serious pathological combination is not due merely to chance. It is the result of depressed cellular immunity, related to the cytotoxicity of silica and responsible for auto-immune reactions and the formation of circulating immune-complexes. In the presence of an underlying predisposition, the polyvisceral diffusion of inhaled toxic mineral particles could also facilitate the sclerodermic process by stimulating fibroblastic proliferation.