Chest CT findings in systemic lupus erythematosus and its correlation with serum markers

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ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the CT findings of chest lesions in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to explore its correlation with the age and serum markers (anti-dsDNA antibodies, anti-Sm antibodies, CRP, ESR, C3, C4 and IgG), in an attempt to speculate the possible mechanism of chest lesions in SLE patients. Materials and methodsThirty nine patients who met the SLE classification criteria were enrolled into this study. All patients underwent serological tests and chest CT examination. The chest CT findings of each patients were analyzed, and its correlation with the age, serum markers were explored. All data were analyzed by using SPSS 19.0 software. Two-sample t-test was used to analyze the age difference between the two groups with or without chest lesions. Relationship between the serum markers and the chest lesions was analyzed by using the Fisher's exact probability method. ResultsAll the 39 patients (34 females and 5 males), aged from 19 to 74 years old, the mean age was 44.13 ± 12.17 years old. Among the serum markers, the positive rate of C3 was the highest (79.49%), ESR positive in 22 patients (56.41%), 9 patients of CRP positive (23.08%). Of all the 39 patients, abnormal manifestations of chest CT were found in 29 patients (74.36%), the most common changes were pulmonary interstitial changes (66.67%), the second were mediastinal/pleural changes (61.54%), then were the pulmonary parenchymal changes (25.64%) and pulmonary vascular changes (12.82%). ESR positive rate difference was found between the two groups with or without pulmonary parenchymal lesions (P < 0.05), and CRP positive rate difference was found between the two groups with or without mediastinal/pleural lesions (P < 0.05). ConclusionChest involvement occurred with high frequency in SLE patients, and the CT manifestations were complex and various, pulmonary interstitial lesions were the most common. Patients with ESR positive were more susceptible to have pulmonary parenchymal lesions, and mediastinal/pleural lesions were more common in patients with CRP positive.