Patients with collagen vascular disease and dyspnea. The value of gallium scanning and bronchoalveolar lavage in predicting response to steroid therapy and clinical outcome.

Patients with collagen vascular disease with or without pulmonary symptoms were studied to determine the value of gallium scan and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in predicting clinical outcome and response to steroid therapy. Thirty-six subjects, 20 with progressive dyspnea, were studied. Gallium uptake was seen in the lung in 17 of the 20 progressively dyspneic patient's and none of the 16 nonprogressive patients (chi square = 22.5, p less than 0.001). The BAL fluid in the progressive patients had a higher percentage of neutrophils (13.4 percent +/- 2.88) and lymphocytes (16.1 percent +/- 2.75) than in the nonprogressive patients (neutrophils = 3.3 +/- 1.30 percent; lymphocytes = 5.6 +/- 1.57 percent, p less than 0.02 for both). Of the 19 progressive patients who were treated with steroids or cyclophosphamide, six had only increased neutrophils in their BAL fluid and all died. The remaining 13 treated progressive patients had increased lymphocytes or a normal BAL (two patients): six had improvement in their vital capacity, six have had stable function, and one died. We found gallium scan and BAL useful in assessing progressive pulmonary fibrosis in collagen vascular disease.