Time course of recovery of lung function in sulphasalazine-induced alveolitis.

Interstitial lung disease has long been recognized as one of the side effects of sulphonamide drugs (1) but we have found only 13 case reports of alveolitis in association with sulphasalazine (2-8). Although the clinical picture and radiological changes are known to be reversible, there is little information regarding the lung function abnormalities and no description of the time course of its recovery. We describe a patient with very severe impairment of gas exchange secondary to sulphasalazine which completely recovered after the drug was stopped.