Doctors show washing out silicosis sufferers’ lungs halts disease

“We’re seeing significant improvements in the scans of their lungs, so that’s really encouraging, and it’s a major milestone to see that,” Dr Chambers said.

“The real thing we want to see is improvements in long-term outcomes, and we anticipate those dramatic improvements in the scans indicating that, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Silicosis is a degenerative lung disease caused by the build-up of silica dust in the lungs, which causes progressive scarring that eventually leaves the lungs unable to function.

The new technique is not a cure for silicosis, as it will not reverse the severe scarring of the lungs that affects people with the advanced form of the disease. However, it acts as a preventative treatment by…