RESEARCH - Interstitial lung disease in RA: recent advances

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Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2006 Sep;12(5):346-53.

Interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis: recent advances.

Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

dskim@...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Subsequent to the ATS/ERS consensus classification of

idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, non-specific interstitial pneumonia

pattern was the dominant pattern in many collagen vascular diseases, which

may explain the better prognosis of interstitial pneumonia associated with

collagen disease than idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Recent papers on

rheumatoid arthritis suggest that this is not the same in all collagen

diseases, and this paper will review previous data and discuss recent

papers. RECENT FINDINGS: In contrast to other collagen diseases, the usual

interstitial pneumonia pattern seems to be more common, or at least as

common in rheumatoid arthritis. This pathological observation was supported

by high-resolution computed tomography findings. In addition to the usual

interstitial pneumonia pattern, several types of small airway involvements

were frequently observed in rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial

pneumonia, the prognosis of which is also variable.

SUMMARY: Because the usual interstitial pneumonia pattern may be more

frequent in rheumatoid arthritis and some data suggest a poor prognosis for

rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial pneumonia, further studies are

required on the prognosis of collagen vascular disease-associated

interstitial pneumonia, especially in relation to the pathological pattern.

Drug-related interstitial pneumonia should also be considered in rheumatoid

arthritis patients on methotrexate or newer drugs such as leflunomide.

PMID: 16926650

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=16926650

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