• Interstitial Lung Disease in Connective Tissue Disease

    Kacie Kuykendall, Constantine Raptis, Sanjeev Bhalla

    Radiol Clin North Am. 2025 Jul;63(4):595-607. doi: 10.1016/j.rcl.2024.12.001. Epub 2025 Jan 18.

    Abstract

    Connective tissue disease, also referred to as collagen vascular disease, encompasses a group of systemic inflammatory disorders characterized by autoimmune-mediated end-organ damage. Connective tissue diseases may result in a variety of interstitial lung disease patterns on computed tomography including usual interstitial pneumonia, nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP), organizing pneumonia and lymphoid interstitial pneumonia, with NSIP being the most common. As interstitial lung disease may be the only manifestation of connective tissue disease or present years before positive serologies, radiologists must be familiar with these patterns to provide diagnostic value.