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Aim: This study is aimed to evaluate the pulmonary involvement in inflammatory bowel disease.
Material and methods: 17 cases (15 ulcerative colitis, 2 Crohn’s disease) were included. Respiratory symptoms, physical findings, pulmonary function tests, bronchial hyperreactivity, high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of thorax, skin tests, serum IgE and eosinophil levels were evaluated. Bronchoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and mucosal biopsy were performed in 15 cases.
Results: Mean age of 10 female (58.8%) 7 male (41.2%) cases was 41,0±12,5 year and the mean duration of disease was 5,6±5,9 year. 11 cases were in remission and 6 had active disease. Mean age in active group was lower than the remission group (36,10/43,72), while there was no difference in duration (5,2/6,3). 4 cases (23%) had symptoms like cough, dyspnea, wheezing. Pulmonary functions of the study group were in normal ranges except one. 15 cases (88,2%) had abnormal HRCT findings (air trapping, emphysema, peribronchial thickening, bronchiectasis, fibrosis, groung glass opacity, bullae). 7 cases (46,6%) had alveolitis in BAL. Biopsy specimens of 2 cases (11,8%) revealed submucosal inflammatory cell infiltration. These 2 cases had positive bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) and skin tests also. No relation between disease activity with HRCT findings, BAL values and BHR was found.
Conclusion: Pulmonary involvement is frequently seen in IBD and may have various presentations. We did not find any correlation between the radiological and histological findings of the cases. A possible relationship may be masked as a result of the treatment and the small number of the study group. However, we suggest that pulmonary involvement should be evaluated in inflammatory bowel disease even in the absence of respiratory symptoms.