Abdelmoneim Medhat Elemary <br/><br/>
Predictors of airway and parenchymal lung abnormalities in Egyptian patients with rheumatoid arthritis /  
 متنبئات إصابة النسيج الرئوى والممرات الهوائية فى مرضى الروماتويد المفصلى المصريين 
Abdelmoneim Medhat Elemary ; Supervised Seham Ali Metawie , Hala Ahmed Raafat , Wael Mohamed Elshawaf 
 - Cairo :   Abdelmoneim Medhat Elemary ,   2018 
 - 232 P. :   charts , facsimiles ;   25cm  
<br/><br/>Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation 
<br/><br/> Introduction: Pulmonary involvement is frequent and among the most severe extra-articular manifestations of Rheumatoid arthritis ranking as the second cause of mortality in this patient population. Rheumatoid arthritis can affect the lung parenchyma, airways and pleura. Pulmonary complications are directly responsible for 10-20% of all mortality in Rheumatoid arthritis patients. Spirometry is a cheap and easy way to screen and monitor for pulmonary function abnormalities in well characterized patient populations such as those with Rheumatoid arthritis. Abnormalities detected by pulmonary function tests may precede symptoms by years. HRCT is more sensitive than spirometry in detecting pulmonary abnormalities in Rheumatoid arthritis patients. The objectives of the present study are to investigate the prevalence and types of pulmonary involvement using HRCT and Spirometry and evaluate respiratory symptoms and rheumatoid disease parameters as predictors of RA-lung disease in a group of Egyptian Rheumatoid arthritis patients. Patients and methods: One hundred Rheumatoid arthritis patients who have met the ACR criteria (2010) were recruited with age 16, 77females (77%) and 23 males (23%) with mean age 55.7. Detailed medical and drug histories were obtained. Routine lab, Pulmonary function tests (spirometry), plain X-ray of the chest, and HRCT were performed to all subjects involved. Rheumatoid  disease activity was established by Disease Activity Score (DAS28), Disease severity assessed by Larsen score 
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<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Index Terms: </label>High resolution CT (HRCT)  Pulmonary function tests  Rheumatoid arthritis