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. 2024 Jan 17:16:9-20.
doi: 10.2147/OARRR.S441720. eCollection 2024.

Usefulness of Lung Ultrasound as a Method for Early Diagnosis of Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pedro Santos-Moreno  1 , Maria Fernanda Linares-Contreras  1 , Gabriel-Santiago Rodríguez-Vargas  2 , Pedro Rodríguez-Linares  2 , Abdón Mata-Hurtado  3 , Linda Ibatá  4 , Susan Martínez  4 , Adriana Rojas-Villarraga  1   5 , Mario Diaz  1 , Esther F Vicente-Rabaneda  6 , Maritza Quintero  7 , Ingrid Möller  7
Affiliations

Usefulness of Lung Ultrasound as a Method for Early Diagnosis of Interstitial Lung Disease in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Pedro Santos-Moreno et al. Open Access Rheumatol. .

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the value of lung ultrasound (LUS) compared to high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in the early diagnosis of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Patients and methods: An observational prospective study was performed. Were included patients with respiratory symptoms or/and, patients with crackles in auscultation during medical consultation. All patients underwent to chest X-rays, LUS, HRCT,and respiratory function tests.

Results: A total of 192 patients with RA were included. Mean disease duration was 16.8 ± 11.1 years. 72% were positive for rheumatoid factor or anti-citrullinated antibodies. Of the total number of subjects, 54.7% had respiratory symptoms. The other patients did not have respiratory symptoms, but they did have had crackles on pulmonary auscultation. B lines > 11.5 on the ROC curve predicted ILD (AUC 0.63; CI 95%: 0.55-0.71; p < 0.003). A DLCO value of <7.13 significantly predicted the presence of ILD (AUC 0.61; 95% CI: 0.52-0.70; p < 0.028).

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that LUS is a valuable tool for the early diagnosis of ILD in patients with RA, and together with DLCO, can adequately predict the presence of ILD in this population. LUS also helps to determine which patients with respiratory symptoms and signs suggestive for ILD are undergo to HRCT.

Keywords: interstitial lung diseases; respiratory function tests; rheumatoid arthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr Pedro Santos-Moreno reports grants, personal fees from Bristol, personal fees, non-financial support from Abbvie, personal fees, non-financial support from Janssen, personal fees, non-financial support from Pfizer, personal fees, non-financial support from Biopas – UCB. Dr Adriana Rojas-Villarraga reports grants from Asociación Colombiana de Reumatología, Fees for conferences from Amgen Fees for conferences and advisory board from Janssen, Fees for conferences from Pfizer, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ROC curves for the prediction of ILD with total B lines and DLCO in subjects with Rheumatoid arthritis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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