الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The systemic autoimmune diseases can cause a variety of pulmonary parenchymal, vascular, airway, and pleural abnormalities. The characteristic thoracic manifestations of these diseases are influenced by the underlying autoimmune process. Although many of the complications can be detected at chest radiography, high-resolution computed tomography (CT) has been shown to be superior to radiography in the assessment of the presence and extent of parenchymal, airway, and pleural abnormalities. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the spectrum of pulmonary manifestations is quite broad involving almost every component of the lung structure or upper airway tracts. Furthermore, the clinical manifestation and severity of lung disease vary from subclinical abnormality to respiratory failure and death even within patients suffering the same rheumatic disease. The pulmonary manifestation could be the first clue to predict future or diagnose underlying rheumatic disease or it could occur later during the disease course. This study included 25 patients which were diagnosed previously as autoimmune diseases and complained from chest manifestations. Our patients were referred from chest department to the Radiology department (CT units) at Tanta University Hospitals. The period of this study was from May 2020 to May 2021. The aim of this study is to evaluate the radiological findings on HRCT of the lung in patients with autoimmune diseases. |