Contributors: Bocchino, M.; Bruzzese, D.; D'Alto, M.; Argiento, P.; Borgia, A.; Capaccio, A.; Romeo, E.; Russo, B.; Sanduzzi, A.; Valente, T.; Sverzellati, N.; Rea, G.; Vettori, S.; Bocchino, Marialuisa; Bruzzese, Dario; D'Alto, Michele; Argiento, Paola; Borgia, Alessia; Capaccio, Annalisa; Romeo, Emanuele; Russo, Barbara; Sanduzzi, Alessandro; Valente, Tullio; Sverzellati, Nicola; Rea, Gaetano; Vettori, Serena
نبذة مختصرة : Quantitative high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) may objectively assess systemic sclerosis (SSc)-interstitial lung disease (ILD) extent, using three basic densitometric measures: mean lung attenuation (MLA), skewness, and kurtosis. This prospective study aimed to develop a composite index - computerized integrated index (CII) – that accounted for MLA, skewness, and kurtosis by means of Principal Component Analysis over HRCTs of 83 consecutive SSc subjects, thus eliminating redundancies. Correlations among CII, cardiopulmonary function and immune-inflammatory biomarkers (e.g. sIL-2Rα and CCL18 serum levels) were explored. ILD was detected in 47% of patients at visual HRCT assessment. These patients had worse CII values than patients without ILD. The CII correlated with lung function at both baseline and follow-up, and with sIL-2Rα and CCL18 serum levels. The best discriminating CII value for ILD was 0.1966 (AUC = 0.77; sensitivity = 0.81 [95%CI:0.68–0.92]; specificity = 0.66 [95%CI:0.52–0.80]). Thirty-four percent of patients without visual trace of ILD had a CII lower than 0.1966, and 67% of them had a diffusing lung capacity for CO
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