Acute carbon monoxide poisoning has important clinical value because it can cause severe adverse cardiovascular effects and sudden death. Acute carbon monoxide poisoning due to charcoal is well reported worldwide, and increased use of charcoal in the restaurant industry raises concern for an increase in occupational health problems. We present a case of carbon monoxide poisoning induced cardiomyopathy in a 47-year-old restaurant worker.

A male patient was brought to the emergency department to syncope and complained of left chest pain. Cardiac angiography and electrocardiography were performed to rule out acute ischemic heart disease, and cardiac markers were checked. After relief of the symptoms and stabilization of the cardiac markers, the patient was discharged without any complications.

Electrocardiography was normal, but cardiac angiography showed up to a 40% midsegmental stenosis of the right coronary artery with thrombotic plaque. The level of cardiac markers was elevated at least 5 to 10 times higher than the normal value, and the carboxyhemoglobin concentration was 35% measured at one hour after syncope. Following the diagnosis of acute carbon monoxide poisoning induced cardiomyopathy, the patient’s medical history and work exposure history were examined. He was found to have been exposed to burning charcoal constantly during his work hours.

Severe exposure to carbon monoxide was evident in the patient because of high carboxyhemoglobin concentration and highly elevated cardiac enzymes. We concluded that this exposure led to subsequent cardiac injury. He was diagnosed with acute carbon monoxide poisoning-induced cardiomyopathy due to an unsafe working environment. According to the results, the risk of exposure to noxious chemicals such as carbon monoxide by workers in the food service industry is potentially high, and workers in this sector should be educated and monitored by the occupational health service to prevent adverse effects.

Dental technicians are exposed to methyl methacrylate(MMA) and hard metal dusts while working, and several cases of hypersensitivity pneumonitis caused by the exposure have been reported. The authors experienced a case of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in a female dental technician who had 10 years’ work experience and report the case with clinical evidence.

The patient’s work, personal, social, and past and present medical histories were investigated based on patient questioning and medical records. Furthermore, the workplace conditions and tools and materials the patient worked with were also evaluated. Next, the pathophysiology and risk factors of pneumonitis were studied, and studies on the relationship between hypersensitivity pneumonitis and a dental technician’s exposure to dust were reviewed. Any changes in the clinical course of her disease were noted for evaluation of the work-relatedness of the disease.

The patient complained of cough and sputum for 1 year. In addition, while walking up the stairs, the patient was not able to ascend without resting due to dyspnea. She visited our emergency department due to epistaxis, and secondary hypertension was incidentally suspected. Laboratory tests including serologic, electrolyte, and endocrinologic tests and a simple chest radiograph showed no specific findings, but chest computed tomography revealed a centrilobular ground-glass pattern in both lung fields. A transbronchial biopsy was performed, and bronchoalveolar washing fluid was obtained. Among the findings of the laboratory tests, microcalcification, noncaseating granuloma containing foreign body-type giant cells, and metal particles within macrophages were identified histologically. Based on these results, hypersensitivity pneumonitis was diagnosed. The patient stopped working due to admission, and she completely quit her job within 2 months of restarting work due to reappearance of the symptoms.

In this study, the patient did not have typical radiologic findings, but pathological evaluation of the lung biopsy from the bronchoscope led to the suspicion of pneumonitis. Under the microscope, the sample contained fibrotic changes in the lung, multinucleated giant cells, and particles in macrophages and was diagnosed as dental technician pneumoconiosis by the pathology. Working as a dental technician had directly exposed her to light metal dust and MMA, and her clinical symptoms and radiologic findings subsided after withdrawal from exposure to the workplace. These outcomes led to the diagnosis of hypersensitity pneumonitis due to MMA exposure and strong work-relatedness.