Abstract
Ultrasound (US) is increasing its potential in the assessment of several rheumatic disorders. Recently, different applications of this imaging technique have emerged. Interesting data supporting its utility and validity in the assessment of the lung to detect and quantify interstitial pulmonary fibrosis in rheumatic diseases, even in subclinical phases, have been reported. The main purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the role of US in the assessment of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis in rheumatic disorders and to discuss the current evidence supporting its clinical relevance in daily clinical practice.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Crystal RG, Bitterman PB, Mossman B et al (2000) Future research directions in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: summary of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute working group. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 166:236–246
Manganelli P, Salaffi F, Pesci A et al (1997) Clinical and subclinical alveolitis in connective tissue diseases as assessed by bronch-oalveolar lavage. Semin Arthritis Rheum 26:740–754
Maradit-Kremers H, Nicola PJ, Crow-Son CS et al (2005) Cardiovascular death in rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based study. Arthritis Rheum 52:722–732
Bernatsky S, Boivin JF, Joseph L et al (2006) Mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 54:2550–2557
Lichtenstein DA, Mezière GA (2008) Relevance of lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute respiratory failure: the BLUE protocol. Chest 134:117–125
Lichtenstein D, Hulot JS, Rabiller A et al (1999) Feasibility and safety of ultrasound-aided thoracentesis in mechanically ventilated patients. Intensive Care Med 25:955–58
Lichtenstein D, Mezière G, Biderman P et al (1999) The comet-tail artifact: an ultrasound sign ruling out pneumothorax. Intensive Care Med 25:383–388
Frassi F, Gargani L, Gligorova S et al (2007) Clinical and echocardiographic determinants of ultrasound lung comets. Eur J Echocardiogr 8:474–449
Agricola E, Bove T, Oppizzi M et al (2005) “Ultrasound comet-tail images”: a marker of pulmonary edema: a comparative study with wedge pressure and extravascular lung water. Chest 127:1690–1695
Picano E, Gargani L, Gheorghiade M (2010) Why, when, and how to assess pulmonary congestion in heart failure: pathophysiological, clinical, and methodological implications. Heart Fail Rev 15:63–72
Sperandeo M, Varriale A, Sperandeo G et al (2009) Transthoracic ultrasound in the evaluation of pulmonary fibrosis: our experience. Ultrasound Med Biol 35:723–739
Copetti R, Soldati G, Copetti P et al (2008) Chest sonography: a useful tool to differentiate acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Cardiovasc Ultrasound 6:16
Gargani L, Doveri M, D’Errico L et al (2009) Ultrasound lung comets in systemic sclerosis: a chest sonography hallmark of pulmonary interstitial fibrosis. Rheumatology 48:1382–1387
Moazedi-Fuerst FC, Kielhauser S, Brickmann K et al (2015) Sonographic assessment of interstitial lung disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Exp Rheumatol 33:S87–S91
Sperandeo M, De Cata A, Molinaro F et al (2015) Ultrasound signs of pulmonary fibrosis in systemic sclerosis as timely indicators for chest computed tomography. Scand J Rheumatol 44:389–398
Tardella M, Gutierrez M, Salaffi F et al (2012) Ultrasound in the assessment of pulmonary fibrosis in connective tissue disorders: correlation with high-resolution computed tomography. J Rheumatol 39:1641–1647
Gutierrez M, Salaffi F, Carotti M et al (2011) Utility of a simplified ultrasound assessment to assess interstitial pulmonary fibrosis in connective tissue disorders—preliminary results. Arthritis Res Ther 13:R134
Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J et al (2009) Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. PLoS Med 6:e1000097
Wells GA, Shea B, O’Connell D et al (2005) Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for assessing the quality of nonrandomized studies in meta-analyses. Available from: http://www.ohri.ca/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxford.htm. Accessed 2 October 2005
Barskova T, Gargani L, Guiducci S et al (2013) Lung ultrasound for the screening of interstitial lung disease in very early systemic sclerosis. Ann Rheum Dis 72:390–395
Moazedi-Fuert FC, Zechner PM, Tripolt J et al (2012) Pulmonary echography in systemic sclerosis. Clin Rheumatol 31:1621–1625
Aghdashi M, Brofeh B, Mohammadi A (2013) Diagnostic performances of high resolution trans-thoracic lung ultrasonography in pulmonary alveoli-interstitial involvement of rheumatoid lung disease. Int J Clin Exp Med 6:562–566
Hasan AA, Makhlouf HA (2014) B-lines: Transthoracic chest ultrasound signs useful in the assessment of interstitial lung diseases. Ann Thorac Med 9:99–103
Cogliati C, Antivalle M, Torzillo D et al (2014) Standard and pocket-size lung ultrasound devices can detect interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Rheumatology 53:1497–1503
Moazedi-Fuerst FC, Kielhauser SM, Scheidl S et al (2014) Ultrasound screening for interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Exp Rheumatol 32:199–203
Mohammadi A, Oshnoei S, Ghasemi-rad M et al (2014) Comparison of a new, modified lung ultrasonography technique with high-resolution CT in the diagnosis of the alveolo-interstitial syndrome of systemic scleroderma. Med Ultrason 16:27–31
Buda N, Piskunowicz M, Porzezinska M et al (2015) Lung ultrasonography in the evaluation of interstitial lung disease in systemic connective tissue diseases: criteria and severity of pulmonary fibrosis—analysis of 52 patients. Ultraschall Med
Pinal- Fernandez I, Pallisa-Nuñez E, Selva-O’Callaghan A et al (2015) Pleural irregularity, a new ultrasound sign for the study of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis and antisynthetase syndrome. Clin Exp Rheumatol 33:S136–S41
Gigante A, Rossi Fanelli F, Lucci S et al (2016) Lung ultrasound in systemic sclerosis: correlation with high-resolution computed tomography, pulmonary function tests and clinical variables of disease. Intern Emerg Med 11:213–217
Delle Sedie A, Doveri M, Frassi F et al (2010) Ultrasound lung comets in systemic sclerosis: a useful tool to detect lung interstitial fibrosis. Clin Exp Rheumatol 28:S54
Salaffi F, Manganelli P, Carotti M et al (2000) The differing patterns of subclinical pulmonary involvement in connective tissue diseases as shown by application of factor analysis. Clin Rheumatol 19:35–41
Wells AU, Rubens MB, du Bois RM et al (1997) Functional impairment in fibrosing alveolitis: relationship to reversible disease on thin section computed tomography. Eur Respir J 10:280–285
Latsi PI, Wells AU (2003) Evaluation and management of alveolitis and interstitial lung disease in scleroderma. Curr Opin Rheumatol 15:748–755
Salaffi F, Carotti M, Baldelli S et al (1999) Subclinical interstitial lung involvement in rheumatic diseases. Correlation of high resolution computerized tomography and functional and cytologic findings. Radiol Med 97:33–41
Soldati G (2006) Sonographic findings in pulmonary diseases. Radiol Med 111:507–515
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosures
None.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gutierrez, M., Gomez-Quiroz, L.E., Clavijo-Cornejo, D. et al. Ultrasound in the interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Can it facilitate a best routine assessment in rheumatic disorders?. Clin Rheumatol 35, 2387–2395 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-016-3329-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-016-3329-3