Recommendations for the management of pulmonary fungal infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Recommendations for the management of pulmonary fungal infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2017 Nov 28; Authors: Galli M, Antinori S, Atzeni F, Meroni L, Riva A, Scirè C, Adorni F, Quartuccio L, Sebastiani M, Airò P, Bazzichi L, Cristini F, Del Bono V, Manfredi A, Viapiana O, De Rosa F, Favalli E, Petrelli E, Salvarani C, Govoni M, Corcione S, Scrivo R, Sarmati L, Lazzarin A, Grassi W, Mastroianni C, Gaeta GB, Ferraccioli G, Cutolo M, De Vita S, Lapadula G, Matucci-Cerinic M, Armignacco O, Sarzi-Puttini P Abstract Often life-threatening pulmonary fungal infections (PFIs) can occur in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Most of the data concerning PFIs in RA patients come from case reports and retrospective case series. Of the ve most widely described PFIs, Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) has rarely been seen outside Japan, pulmonary cryptococcosis has been diagnosed in only a small number of patients worldwide, pulmonary coccidioidomycosis has almost only been observed in endemic areas, the limited number of cases of pulmonary histoplasmosis have mainly occurred in the USA, and the rare cases of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis have only been encountered in leukopenic patients. Many aspects of the prophylaxis, diagnosis and treatment of PFIs in RA patients remain to be defined, as does the role of each DMARD in increasing the ris...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Clin Exp Rheumatol Source Type: research