Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gigante, Antonietta
• Rossi Fanelli, Filippo
• Lucci, Silvio
• Barilaro, Giuseppe
• Quarta, Silvia
• Barbano, Biagio
• Giovannetti, Antonello
• Amoroso, Antonio
• Rosato, Edoardo

Titel

Lung ultrasound in systemic sclerosis: correlation with high-resolution computed tomography, pulmonary function tests and clinical variables of disease

Ist Teil von

• Internal and emergency medicine, 2016-03, Vol.11 (2), p.213-217

Ort / Verlag

Milan: Springer Milan

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a hallmark of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Although high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is the gold standard to diagnose ILD, recently lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged in SSc patients as a new promising technique for the ILD evaluation, noninvasive and radiation-free. The aim of this study was to evaluate if there is a correlation between LUS, chest HRCT, pulmonary function tests findings and clinical variables of the disease. Thirty-nine patients (33 women and 6 men; mean age 51 ± 15.2 years) underwent clinical examination, HRCT, pulmonary function tests and LUS for detection of B-lines. A positive correlation exists between the number of B-lines and the HRCT score ( r  = 0.81, p  < 0.0001), conversely a negative correlation exists between the number of B-lines and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) ( r  = −0.63, p  < 0.0001). The number of B-lines increases along with the progression of the capillaroscopic damage. A statistically significant difference in the number of B-lines was found between patients with and without digital ulcers [42 (3–84) vs 16 (4–55)]. We found that the number of B-lines increased with the progression of both HRCT score and digital vascular damage. LUS may therefore, be a useful tool to determine the best timing for HRCT execution, thus, preventing for many patients a continuous and useless exposure to ionizing radiation.