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Review
. 2019 Nov 21;8(12):2038.
doi: 10.3390/jcm8122038.

Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis Remains a Challenge for Clinicians

Elisabeth Bendstrup  1 , Janne Møller  1 , Sissel Kronborg-White  1 , Thomas Skovhus Prior  1 , Charlotte Hyldgaard  2
Affiliations
Review

Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis Remains a Challenge for Clinicians

Elisabeth Bendstrup et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a serious complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) contributing to significantly increased morbidity and mortality. Other respiratory complications, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchiectasis, are frequent in RA. Infections and drug toxicity are important differential diagnoses and should be considered in the diagnostic work-up of patients with RA presenting with respiratory symptoms. This review provides an overview of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of RA-ILD, the radiological and histopathological characteristics of the disease as well as the current and future treatment options. Currently, there is no available evidence-based therapy for RA-ILD, and immunosuppressants are the mainstay of therapy. Ongoing studies are exploring the role of antifibrotic therapy in patients with progressive fibrotic ILD, which may lead to a new treatment approach for subgroups of patients with RA-ILD.

Keywords: interstitial lung disease; non-specific interstitial pneumonia; organizing pneumonia; rheumatoid arthritis; therapy; usual interstitial pneumonia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
HRCT images showing (a) rheumatoid arthritis-associated usual interstitial pneumonia (RA-UIP), (b) rheumatoid arthritis-associated non-specific interstitial pneumonia (RA-NSIP), and (c) rheumatoid arthritis-associated organizing pneumonia (RA-OP).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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