ABSTRACT
The connection between nose and paranasal sinuses epithelial cancer and occupational risk factors was shown for the first time during the decade of the 1960s through several case-reports. "Employment in the boot and shoe industry is casually associated with the development of nasal adenocarcinomas; and relative risks well in excess of 10-fold have been reported in England and in Italy. The contribution of adenocarcinomas to the total number of epithelial tumors could be of interest because this histological type in particular was related to exposure to leather and wood dust from the first epidemological publications. In fact, some authors described a high frequency of adenocarcinomas compared to other histological types in those populations in which there was a high frequency of woodworkers and shoemakers. In Italy, adenocarcinomas are 19% of the total number of epithelial nasal cancers. In other countries the percentage varies from 11% to 37%.
