Interstitial lung disease associated with connective tissue disease: strategy of diagnosis and treatment

Connective tissue disease(CTD) is a systemic autoimmune disease, which can damage multiple organs.Due to the lung and pleural are rich in collagen, blood vessels and other connective tissue, therefore, CTD can damage the lungs and other organs of the respiratory system which includes respiratory muscle, pleural, pulmonary vascular, airway, parenchyma and interstitial lung.Some of the CTD patients with respiratory symptoms are the first symptom.Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is very common in CTD.The total incidence rates are more than 50%.In contrast, 15% to 30% patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) are finally confirmed to be consistent with CTD-ILD diagnosis.ILD is one of the important causes of death in CTD patients.CTD include systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS), polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and mixed CTD (MCTD). In this pater, the strategy of diagnosis and treatment for CTD-ILD were reviewed. Key words: Connective tissue disease; Lung disease, interstitial; Strategy of diagnosis and treatment