A pilot study of lung ultrasound B-lines in diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis associated interstitial lung diseases

Objective To assess the clinical value of lung ultrasound (LUS) B-lines in diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) associated interstitial lung diseases (RA-ILD). Methods Forty-five consecutive patients with RA who underwent a high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scan of the chest, were also examined by LUS for detection of B-lines (within 1 month independently in all patients). The B-lines score was obtained by summing the number of total 50 inter-costal spaces (ICSs) of chest wall. Pulmonary fibrosis was quantified by HRCT as previously described by the 30-point Warrick score. Results B-lines score significantly correlated with the Warrick score [(r=0.778, 95%CI(0.627, 0.872), P 15). Conclusion The data confirm that LUS is a useful technique to identify ILD in RA. In RA-ILD, B-lines correlate significantly with HRCT and are able to identify mild and severe degree of fibrosis. LUS is a promising non-invasive and non-ionizing strategy for screening RA-ILD. Key words: Arthritis, rheumatoid; Interstitial lung disease; Lung ultrasound; B-lines; High resolution CT