Computed tomography lung parenchymal descriptions in routine radiological reporting have diagnostic and prognostic utility in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with lung disease.

BACKGROUND

Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and lung disease may pose a diagnostic dilemma between idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) and PH associated with lung disease (PH-CLD). The prognostic impact of common computed tomography (CT) parenchymal features is unknown.

METHODS

660 IPAH and PH-CLD patients assessed between 2001 and 2019 were included. Reports for all CT scans 1 year prior to diagnosis were analysed for common lung parenchymal patterns. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed.

RESULTS

At univariate analysis of the whole cohort, centrilobular ground-glass (CGG) changes (hazard ratio, HR 0.29) and ground-glass opacification (HR 0.53) predicted improved survival, while honeycombing (HR 2.79), emphysema (HR 2.09) and fibrosis (HR 2.38) predicted worse survival (all p<0.001). Fibrosis was an independent predictor after adjusting for baseline demographics, PH severity and diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (HR 1.37, p<0.05). Patients with a clinical diagnosis of IPAH who had an absence of reported parenchymal lung disease (IPAH-noLD) demonstrated superior survival to patients diagnosed with either IPAH who had coexistent CT lung disease or PH-CLD (2-year survival of 85%, 60% and 46%, respectively, p<0.05). CGG changes were present in 23.3% of IPAH-noLD and 5.8% of PH-CLD patients. There was no significant difference in survival between IPAH-noLD patients with or without CGG changes. PH-CLD patients with fibrosis had worse survival than those with emphysema.

INTERPRETATION

Routine clinical reports of CT lung parenchymal disease identify groups of patients with IPAH and PH-CLD with significantly different prognoses. Isolated CGG changes are not uncommon in IPAH but are not associated with worse survival.

Informations de copyright

Copyright ©The authors 2022.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflict of interest: R. Condliffe reports personal fees and funds for meeting attendance from Janssen, GSK and MSD, outside the submitted work. R. Lewis reports nonfinancial support from Actelion Pharmaceuticals outside the submitted work. D.G. Kiely reports grants, personal fees and funds for meeting attendance from Janssen and GSK, personal fees and funds for meeting attendance from MSD, and personal fees from Acceleron, outside the submitted work. A.J. Swift reports honoraria and consultancy fees from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and received a research grant from GlaxoSmithKline. All other authors report no conflict of interest.