Pulmonary manifestations of systemic sclerosis

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem disorder characterized by degenerative and fibrotic changes of skin, vasculature and internal organs such as eosaphagus, lungs, kidney and heart. The lungs are frequently affected in SSc, which rank second only to the eosaphagus in frequency and lung involvement is a common complication that adversely affects the prognosis. The most common pulmonary manifestation of SSc is interstitial fibrosis, its exact prevalence is not known but depends on the sensitivity of the detecting method. Pulmonary hypertension, aspiration pneumonia, pleural disease, malignancy and spontaneous pneumothorax are the other pulmonary manifestations of the SSc.