Clinical Research Directory

Ultrasound Applicability in the Assessment of Patients With Fibrosing Interstitial Lung Disease

In this study the investigators want to examine the different ultrasound techniques to assess the patients with lung fibrosis. The investigators want to followup these patients in 1 year to see the changes in lungs, pleura, diaphragm and measurments of overarm and thigh muscles to see that the investigators can identify the patients with lung fibrosis with this methods and monitor the progression. Now a days the CT scan in the lungs needs to monitor these participants, but the investigators want to see the ultrasound can use insted for CT scanning to minitor these pateints. These patient group has very bad prognosis, so it is necessary to identify these patients as early as possible to treatments.

dEtection of rheumAtoid aRthritis - Interstitial Lung dIseasE by Thoracic ultRasound

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that can affect various organs, including the lungs, and lead to rheumatoid arthritis-interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). RA-ILD is responsible for increased mortality in rheumatoid arthristis (RA) patients. The prevalence of RA-ILD varies according to the screening tool used. The current gold standard is chest CT, but this is an expensive, time-consuming and irradiating examination, and recommendations on when and how often it should be performed are not clearly established. Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an emerging tool for the detection of lung parenchymal damage, particularly in systemic scleroderma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). LUS is a non-irradiating, non-expensive examination that can be performed rapidly. The aim of our study is to evaluate LUS as a screening tool for RA-ILD, in patients with risk factors for developing RA-ILD.