Imaging of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis: computed tomography versus ultrasound

Abstract

Interstitial lung disease related to systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD) is a main prognostic determinant of the disease. High-resolution computed tomography is the reference tool to detect SSc-ILD in the clinical arena. It enables the diagnosis, quantification and monitoring of lung involvement, providing robust information for the management of the disease; yet its cost and especially radiological burden can make it unappealing to SSc patients, who are often young women in their reproductive age, who require serial testing to assess the natural history of the disease. Recently, lung ultrasound has been proposed as a nonionizing technique to detect and semiquantifiy SSc-ILD. This new application of ultrasound seems interesting, as it is fast, inexpensive and can easily be performed at the patient’s bedside with a handheld device. Magnetic resonance is the current gold standard for noninvasive virtual histological discrimination of different tissues. Despite still being underused for the evaluation of the lungs,...