Hardmetal Disease

The combination of tungsten carbide and cobalt is responsible for the so-called hardmetal disease. 

Investigations have been performed with rats, mice, and guinea pigs. About investigations related to the Hardmetal Disease, see Section 14.4.2. 

All these findings very clearly demonstrate that only the combination of cobalt with tungsten carbide is a necessary condition to induce severe alveolitis leading to fibrosis. The pulmonary response produced by hardmetal dust is much more pronounced than that caused by pure cobalt or cobalt compounds, while WC alone shows almost no effect. Hardmetal disease is not a consequence of one of the hardmetal components but is a result of interaction between Co and WC particles, producing toxic activated oxygen species, presumably hydroxyl radicals. 

The association between parenchymal lung disease and hardmetal exposure was first observed in Germany and several later reports exist from other countries. An extensive stunmary of the related literature in regard to clinical surveys, epidemiological studies, clinical presentation, pathology, and hypotheses on pathogenesis was presented recently by D. Lison and co-workers [14.6,14.7]. 

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