[Autoimmune diseases in the lungs and pleura (author's transl)]

Diseases of autoaggression can be produced if immunotolerance to endogenous tissue is lost. Such diseases become manifest in the pulmonary and pleura regions mainly within the framework of systemic diseases of the connective tissue (collagenoses) and of the vessels (angiitides). Lupus erythematodes disseminatus belongs to the first group which also includes rheumatoid arthritis, sclerodermia, and dermatomyositis, whereas panarteritis nodosa belongs to the second group, which comprises among others arteritis of the arteria pulmonalis, Wegener's granulomatosis, Goodpasture's syndrome and Ceelen's disease. Pleuropulmonary involvement is frequent in these systemic diseases; it is in fact the principal sign in Goodpasture's syndrome and in Ceelen's disease.