ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The Objective was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of thoracic ultrasound (TUS) for detecting (ILD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with respiratory symptoms. METHODS: Individuals with RA visiting Rheumatological outpatient clinics in the Region of Southern Denmark were systematically screened for dyspnoea, cough, recurrent pneumonia, prior severe pneumonia or a chest X-ray indicating interstitial abnormalities. Eighty participants with a positive screening were consecutively included. Individuals were not eligible if they had a chest high-resolution CT (HRCT) <12 months or were already diagnosed with ILD. A blinded TUS expert evaluated TUS, and TUS was registered as positive for ILD if ≥10 B-lines or bilateral thickened and fragmented pleura were present. The primary outcomes were TUS's sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). An ILD-specialised thoracic radiologist assessed HRCT, followed by a multi-disciplinary team discussion, which was the reference standard. The accepted window of HRCT was <30 days after TUS was performed. RESULTS: 77 participants received HRCT <30 days after TUS, and 23 (30%) were diagnosed with ILD. TUS had a sensitivity of 82.6% (95% CI: 61.2% to 95.0%) and a specificity of 51.9% (95% CI: 37.8% to 65.7%), corresponding to a PPV of 42.2% (95%CI 27.7% to 57.8%) and an NPV of 87.5% (95% CI 71.0% to 96.5%). CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this prospective study is the first to use respiratory symptoms in RA as inclusion criteria. Systematic screening for respiratory symptoms combined with TUS can reduce the diagnostic delay of ILD in RA.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: When treating patients with methotrexate (MTX) the most frequently reported adverse effects (AE) are gastrointestinal (GI) with nausea being reported by 10-20%. If intolerable AE of oral MTX persist, switching from oral to subcutaneous (SC) or intramuscular (IM) administration is common. However, this approach is largely empirical and the evidence is inconsistent. To our knowledge, this will be the first study to estimate the change in GI AE of switching from oral to SC MTX. METHODS: A retrospective postal survey was sent to patients who had changed from oral MTX to SC MTX. GI AE was rated by visual analogue scale (VAS) regarding frequency and intensity of nausea, frequency of vomiting and frequency of discomfort. All participants gave informed consent. No further ethical clearance was necessary according to national law. RESULTS: Of the sample 39/57 (68.4%) responded. Significant reductions in VAS were found in three of four primary outcome measures for GI AE. Only frequency of vomiting was not significantly reduced. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the common practice of switching from oral to SC MTX to alleviate GI AE, however, additional research is needed in order to clarify this rarely studied subject.
