RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF EXPERTS ON THE TOPIC «INTERSTITIAL LUNG DISEASE IN SYSTEMIC SCLERODERMA» (December 16, 2020)

Summary. On December 16, 2020, a group of leading Ukrainian experts-rheumatologists held an online meeting «Systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease» chaired by Volodymyr Mykolayovych Kovalenko, MD, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) of Ukraine. The Board of Experts summarized the results of discussion of diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung diseases associated with systemic scleroderma. The reason for this discussion was the emergence of new data on the use of nintedanib for this category of patients. Thus, SENSCIS study evaluated the efficacy and safety of nintedanib in patients with SSc-ILD. This study included 576 patients who received at least one dose of nintedanib or placebo. At baseline, 51.9% of patients showed diffuse dermic SS, 48.4% of patients received mycophenolate mofetil. In the analysis of the primary endpoint, the rate of FIVC change was 52.4 ml per year in the nintedanib treatment group and 93.3 ml per year in the placebo group (difference — 41.0 ml per year; 95% confidence interval 2.9–79,0; p = 0.04). Members of the Board of Experts consider it expedient to: actualize the problem of SSc-ILD diagnosis and therapy both at the national and regional levels; apply a multidisciplinary approach to SSc-ILD diagnosis and treatment with the mandatory involvement of specialists: a rheumatologist and a radiologist (specialist in CT diagnostics), if differential diagnosis in complex clinical situations is required, also engage a pulmonologist; it is recommend to include nintedanib in the national and regional clinical guidelines for SSc-ILD treatment.