Bubbles in the Box: Recurrent Pneumothorax From Bronchopleural Fistula in Rheumatoid Arthritis

oleh: Ahmed Taha MD, Randa Hazam MD, Jim Tseng, Lusine Nahapetyan MD, Masoud Alzeerah MD, Asm Islam MD

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: SAGE Publishing 2019-07-01

Deskripsi

When considering rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated pulmonary diseases, interstitial lung disease and pleural disease are the most common RA-associated pulmonary manifestations while spontaneous pneumothorax and bronchopleural fistula (BPF) are among the extremely rare ones. To the best of our knowledge, all the previous reports of RA-associated BPFs were attributed to peripherally located pulmonary nodules that necrotized, burst into the pleural cavity, and eventually lead to the fistula formation. However, we hereby present the first case of BPF in an RA patient that formed in the absence of any underlying rheumatic pulmonary nodules. Additionally, our patient was on chronic methotrexate therapy, and there are no data in the literature that suggest methotrexate-induced parenchymal lung disease can predispose to BPF formation. Our report is the first to introduce a probe to further investigate this association.