[Diffuse interstitial pneumopathy after the treatment with gold salts of a patient with rheumatoid polyarthritis]

We present the case of a male patient with sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis, treated with gold salts, admitted for clinical symptoms and chest X-ray alterations suggesting an interstitial lung disease. This was confirmed by complex lung function tests and fiber bronchoscopy with broncho-alveolar lavage. Considerations are made about the etiology of interstitial lung disease (pulmonary determination of the rheumatoid arthritis or secondary to the gold salts therapy), about the treatment and long-term prognosis, and about the good clinical, functional and radiological evolution under treatment.