Der Radiologe
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Systemic autoimmune diseases are responsible for about 25% of all deaths due to interstitial lung disease; therefore, an early identification of patients with pulmonary manifestation changes the management. Detection, differential diagnostic classification and staging of the pneumological pattern of findings are largely based on high-resolution computed tomography (HR-CT). The main differential diagnostic challenges are interstitial manifestations which present with radiological-histopathological phenotypes of interstitial pneumonia. ⋯ Uncharacteristic reactions of airways and pleura can be the leading symptom or present as accompanying findings. A serious complication is pulmonary hypertension. Drug-induced lung lesions can present with similar HR-CT morphology as connective tissue diseases and can only be differentiated in the temporal and clinical context.