Lung ultrasound B-lines in systemic sclerosis: cut-off values and methodological indications for interstitial lung disease screening

Lung ultrasound (LUS), through assessment of B-lines and pleural line alterations, is able to evaluate interstitial lung disease (ILD), a frequent complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Different scanning schemes and counting methods have been proposed, but no clear cut-off values have been indicated for screening. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of different LUS methodological approaches to detect ILD, compared with high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) as gold standard.