Re: Rheumatoid Lung Disease

[Guest guest]

,

Thank you so much for the information. I really appreciate it.

Hugs,

Al

> " Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lung Disease

>

> If you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there is some chance that

> sometime in the course of your disease, you may have some lung

> involvement. One of the most frequent lung problems with RA is

> interstitial lung disease. The disease process of lung scarring

> (fibrosis) in RA is similar to that of IPF. It is estimated that up

to

> 20% of patients with RA may have some degree of lung scarring or

> fibrosis with their rheumatoid disease which shows up on a chest x-

ray.

> An even higher percentage of patients with RA have some decrease in

> their lung functions which may go unnoticed unless pulmonary

function

> tests are performed. Therefore, if you have RA, it is a good idea to

> have an evaluation of your lungs done. The majority of cases of

> interstitial lung disease associated with RA occur in the 50 to 60

year

> range.

>

> The fibrosis or lung scarring associated with RA is similar to that

> described for IPF. The same type of lung damage as with IPF,

described

> above, can occur with progressive lung disease in RA. The main goal

of

> therapy in this disease is to arrest the fibrosis or lung scarring

> process. Again, prednisone is the drug used to do this. The same

type of

> lung function tests, bronchoscopy with lavage and chest x-ray tests

> should be done if you have been diagnosed as having lung fibrosis

> associated with RA. "

>

> Source:

>

> " Iowa Health Book: Internal Medicine

> Interstitial Lung Diseases: Introduction and Chapter One " :

>

http://www.vh.org/Patients/IHB/IntMed/Pulmonary/InterstitialLungDz/ILD

1.html

>

>

> " Rheumatoid Lung Disease " from Medlineplus:

> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000113.htm

>

>

> " The Dailylung.com guide to the

> Lung Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis " :

> http://www.dailylung.com/RheumatoidLung.htm

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I read this article with great interest as my Dad had this cute part of the

RA as he got older. I remember when he told us what it was, most of us said,

yeah, right, arthritis only affects joints....duh! OMG, how much I had to

learn. It didn't cause my Dad's death, but it was a contributing factor.

Thanks once again for a most timely article.

Deb