This book is a compilation of current medical knowledge regarding asthma and various occupational etiologies. There is no initial overview of the problem of occupational asthma in regard to pathogenesis, diagnosis, and pulmonary function testing. Since there are innumerable possible exposures and environments, the editor has selected specific entities. Each chapter, however, does relate specific exposure to disease and provides data from detailed clinical and research investigation, which are well referenced and illustrated.
This volume, taken as a whole, provides the physician with insight into the various problems of diagnosis and treatment of occupationally related obstructive airways disease. The chapter on exercise-induced asthma was quite well written and succinctly summarized various potential pathogenetic mechanisms. Immunologic mechanisms relating exposure to various agents and resultant bronchospasm are well documented in the chapters on byssinosis, farmer's lung disease, and Hoya (sea-squirt) asthma.
This volume does not outline a systematic approach for the clinician