Published ahead of print on September 27, 2007, doi:10.1164/rccm.200705-655OC
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 177, Number 1, January 2008, 91-98
A more recent version of this article appeared on January 1, 2008
Submitted on May 2, 2007
Accepted on September 27, 2007
Bronchoalveolar Lavage and Response to Cyclophosphamide in Scleroderma Interstitial Lung Disease
Charlie Strange1*, Marcy B Bolster2, Michael D Roth3, Richard M Silver2, Arthur Theodore4, Jonathan Goldin5, Philip Clements6, Joanie Chung7, Robert M Elashoff7, Robert Suh5, Edwin A Smith2, Daniel E Furst6, Donald P Tashkin3, and the Scleroderma Lung Study Research Group
1 Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Charleston, SC, USA,
2 Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Charleston, SC, USA,
3 Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA,
4 Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Division of Pulmnonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Boston, MA, USA,
5 Department of Radiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA,
6 Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Division of Rheumatology and Arthritis, Los Angeles, CA, USA,
7 Department of Biostatistics and Biomathematics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: strangec{at}musc.edu.
Rationale: The presence of inflammatory cells on bronchoalveolar lavage is often used to predict disease activity and the need for therapy in systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease.
Objectives: To evaluate whether lavage cellularity identifies distinct subsets of disease and/or predicts cyclophosphamide responsiveness.
Methods: Patients underwent baseline lavage and/or high resolution computerized tomography as part of a randomized placebo-controlled trial of cyclophosphamide versus placebo (Scleroderma Lung Study) to determine the effect of therapy on forced vital capacity. Patients with 3% polymorphonuclear and/or 2 % eosinophilic leukocytes on lavage and/or ground-glass opacification on computed tomography were eligible for enrollment.
Measurements and Main Results: Lavage was performed in 201 individuals, including 141 of the 158 randomized patients. Abnormal cellularity was present in 101 of these cases (71.6%) and defined a population with a higher % of men (p= 0.04), more severe lung function including a worse forced vital capacity (p=0.003), total lung capacity (p=0.005), and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (p=0.004), more extensive ground glass opacity (p=0.005) and more extensive fibrosis in the right middle lobe (p=0.005). Despite these relationships, the presence or absence of an abnormal cell differential was not an independent predictor of disease progression or response to cyclophosphamide at one year (p=NS).
Key words: systemic sclerosis, chest computed tomography, Scleroderma Lung Study, BAL, SSc
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