Five cases of abnormal lung imaging in rheumatoid arthritis

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that usually symmetrically affects the facet joints of the hands and feet

We identified 5 patients with RA with pulmonary involvement and performed a retrospective analysis of their chest X-ray and chest CT scans in an attempt to characterize pleural effusion, hydropneumothorax, chylothorax, pulmonary nodular/nodular pleural effusion in such patients Imaging findings of macronodular/necrotizing nodular lesions, pleural plaques, ground-glass opacities, and interstitial lung disease

Case profile

figure 1

(Patient 1): Age 46, male, admitted to hospital with dyspnea and cough

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(Patient 2): Age 45, male, admitted to hospital with severe chronic cough

image 3

(Patient 3): Age 56, female, admitted to hospital with cough and fever

Figure 4

(Patient 4): 80 years old, male, admitted to hospital for exertional dyspnea

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(Patient 5): Age 55, female, admitted to hospital with chronic cough and dyspnea

Among these 5 patients, pulmonary nodules were the most common imaging manifestations of RA, and in the third patient, pulmonary nodules were the first symptom of RA

discuss

In RA patients, the incidence of pulmonary rheumatic nodules is less than 1%, and about 0.

Some pulmonary nodules may have a central necrosis that is hollow and called rheumatic necrotizing nodules

Pleural involvement in patients with RA can manifest as pleural effusion, pleural thickening or pleural plaques, and pneumothorax

According to literature reports, the incidence of RA-related interstitial lung disease fluctuates widely, depending on the method of examination and the population being examined

Pulmonary manifestations of RA also include bronchiolitis, such as follicular bronchiolitis and constrictive bronchiolitis