Combined measurement of carbon monoxide and nitric oxide lung transfer does not improve the identification of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis

What is it about?

In systemic sclerosis, it is important to make an early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension when this complication is present. Impaired lung transfer for carbon monoxide (TLCO) is a sensitive marker of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis, but the specificity of this marker is poor. Calculation of membrane conductance for CO (DmCO) and capillary blood volume (Vcap) through combined measurement of TLCO and nitric oxide lung transfer (TLNO) has been suggested to improve sensitivity and specificity of TLCO for the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. Here, we studied 572 patients with systemic sclerosis recruited in 7 French centres. We found that compared with TLCO alone, combined TLCO-TLNO does not add capability to detect pulmonary hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis.

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