Extract

This editorial refers to The efficacy of tacrolimus in patients with interstitial lung diseases complicated with polymyositis or dermatomyositis, by Takashi Kurita et al. , doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keu166, pages 39–44 . .

In this issue of Rheumatology , Kurita et al. [ 1 ] assess the effect of tacrolimus in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM). Long-term survival in IIM has improved over the last 20 years but remains relatively poor. Ten-year survival in the UK is ∼90%, comparable with SLE [ 2 ]. ILD, which occurs in ∼30% of IIM cases, is a major predictor of death, yet none of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in IIM have included ILD-specific endpoints [ 3 ].

Treatment for IIM-associated ILD has therefore been based on case series and extrapolation from related conditions, such as SSc-associated ILD. However, the patterns of ILD associated with different autoinflammatory conditions, though overlapping, do differ [ 4 ]. In addition, it is unclear whether patterns of ILD will respond identically to the same treatments in different CTDs.

You do not currently have access to this article.

Comments

0 Comments
Submit a comment
You have entered an invalid code
Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. Please check for further notifications by email.