Active clinical trials for "Connective Tissue Diseases"

Connective tissue diseases represent a rather heterogeneous spectrum of overlapping pathologies, which have as a common feature the involvement of multiple organ systems. Though generally uncommon, they represent lifelong conditions, which are often coupled with various immunologic disorders, thus significantly affecting the overall health and quality of life of the affected individual. The classic connective tissue disorders include rheumatoid arthritis ,Juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus , scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome, and the mixed connective tissue disease several studies have reported that up to fifty percent of connective tissue diseases' patients are having laryngeal involvement as the sole manifestation of this disease In acute phases, patients may complain of burning, foreign body sensation in the throat, and difficulty in swallowing. In chronic cases the cricoarytenoid joint is usually affected with resultant fixation. The laryngoscopic findings include mucosal edema, myositis of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles, hyperemia, inflammation and swelling of the arytenoids, interarytenoid mucosa, aryepiglottic folds and epiglottis, and impaired mobility or fixation of the cricoarytenoid joint. In the early stage of the disease, the laryngeal examination may be normal

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) represent a frequent complication of connective tissue diseases (CTDs), especially systemic sclerosis, idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and rheumatoid arthritis. ILD can either occur during CTD course or be the first manifestation of CTDs. Therefore screening patients with ILD for CTD is crucial. In some cases, ILD are associated with clinical and/or serological autoimmune features but not classifiable for CTDs. Evolution of these forms to defined CTDs has never been study. Recently, the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society experts proposed a new term, "interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features" or IPAF, to describe these patients according to updated classification criteria. Aims of this study were to compare CTD occurence during follow-up between IPAF and non-IPAF patients in a idiopathic interstitial pneumonia cohort and to identify risk factors of CTD progression in IPAF patients at diagnosis.

We hypothesized that the multi-disciplinary assessment of interstitial lung disease patients would lead to a more accurate diagnosis and consequently alterations in treatment regimens that may lead to improved outcomes.

Anti-Ro52 autoantibodies can be detected in patients with several autoimmune diseases. Clinical significance of anti-Ro52 is controversial. The presence of anti-Ro52 may be a factor associated with disease severity (interstitial lung disease, vasculopathy) and cancers. The aim of this study is to assess interstitial lung disease and vasculopathy prevalence and severity, cancers occurence and others clinical features of connective tissue disease patients with anti-Ro52 autoantibodies.