A Radiographic Assessment Significance of Various Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Abnormalities Chest in Scleroderma Lung
Keywords:
Ground-glass opacity; HRCT Chest; lung fibrosis; pulmonary hypertension, systemic sclerosis.Abstract
Aim: The aim of the present study was to discuss the significance of various pulmonary and extrapulmonary abnormalities that may be identified on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) chest of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.
Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional, observational including 100 patients in the Department of Radiology Patients with clinical diagnosis of SSc having pulmonary involvement were included in the study. Pregnant females and patients having active chest infection or history of pulmonary tuberculosis were excluded. PFT was done for all the study patients. Other investigations done were chest radiography, as an initial imaging modality and relevant blood investigations as required.
Results: Age ranged from 13 to 61 years (mean 35.5±10.2 years) and most of the patients belonged to 20-30 age group followed by 31-40 age group. All the patients had clinical complaints of skin thickening and tightness, barring a few. Mean duration of skin manifestations was 5.4±5.8 years. Other than skin thickening, dyspnoea and dry cough were the frequently associated symptoms. 35% patients had duration of <6 months. 55% had 61%-80% FEV. Chest radiography was not found to be a sensitive modality in evaluating ILD, particularly in the early stages of the disease. Among them, 55% had right lung involvement and 45% had left lung involvement. No significant upper and middle zone involvement was seen. Most common chest radiograph finding was fine or coarse reticular opacity.
Conclusion: Systemic sclerosis commonly occurs in middle aged females; the presenting complaint being diffuse skin thickening over the limbs and face and dyspnoea on exertion with or without dry cough as the primary respiratory symptom. PFT reveals restrictive pattern. The limitations of chest radiography may overcome by HRCT chest. Non-specific interstitial pneumonia pattern is the most common ILD found in SSc.
Keywords: Ground-glass opacity; HRCT Chest; lung fibrosis; pulmonary hypertension, systemic sclerosis.
