الفهرس 
Chest Sonography in Interstitial Lung Disease associated with Systemic Sclerosis
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Abstract
Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a hallmark of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Although chest 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, non- invasive and radiation-free. The aim of our study was to study the correlation of LUS findings (ultrasound lung comets) with HRCT findings in patients with SSc associated lung fibrosis.
Patients & Methods:
The current cross-sectional study enrolled 33 consecutive adult SSc patients visiting the Rheumatology department at Kasr Al-Ainy Hospital, Cairo University, patients were diagnosed according to 2013 ACR/Eular criteria and underwent clinical examination, chest HRCT reports from our patient’s files during the last 3 months, pulmonary function tests were recorded. LUS for detection of ultrasound lung comets (ULCs) was done.
Results:
A strong significant positive correlation was found between ULCs number and Warrick Score (r=0.982, p=0.0001). On the other hand, ULCs number was inversely correlated with FVC (r= -0.585, p=0.000) and FEV1 (r= -0.881, p=0.000).
There was a statistically positive correlation between age and the number of ULCs (r=0.379, p=0.029), disease duration and ULCs number (r=0.683, p=0.000), statistically positive correlation between ULCs number and calcinosis (r=0.379, p=0.029); we found a positive correlation between the number of ULCs and the current steroid dose (r=0.433, p=0.012). A positive correlation between number of ULCs and ACEI (r=0.441, p0.010) also was found.
Conclusions:
A high association was found between ULCs number and HRCT findings in the assessment of lung parenchymal involvement in systemic sclerosis. Therefore, ULCs may be a noninvasive and helpful approach for long-term follow-up of patients with systemic sclerosis after an initial examination using ultrasonography (USG) and HRCT.