Lara Chalabreysse, Salim Si-Mohamed, Julie Traclet, François Philit, Françoise Thivolet-Béjui, Ségolène Turquier, Philippe Bonniaud, Kais Ahmad, Mouhamad Nasser, Vincent Cottin, National Reference Center for Rare Pulmonary Diseases, Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), Centre de Recherche en Acquisition et Traitement de l'Image pour la Santé (CREATIS), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Louis Pradel, Lyon, France., Croix-Rousse Hospital, Hospices civils de Lyon, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] (UBFC), Infections Virales et Pathologie Comparée - UMR 754 (IVPC), École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), ROSSI, Sabine, Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] (UJM)-Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), and Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)
Background Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis (PPFE) has a variable disease course with dismal prognosis in the majority of patients with no validated drug therapy. This study is to evaluate the effect of nintedanib in patients with idiopathic and secondary PPFE. Patients admitted to a tertiary care center (2010–2019) were included into this retrospective analysis if they had a multidisciplinary diagnosis of PPFE, had been followed-up for 3 months or more, and had lung function tests and chest CTs available for review. Changes in pulmonary function tests were assessed using non-parametric tests and linear mixed effect model. Lung volumes were measured with lobar segmentation using chest CT. Results Out of 21 patients with PPFE, nine had received nintedanib, six had received another treatment and another six patients were monitored without drug therapy. Annual FVC (% of predicted) relative decline was − 13.6 ± 13.4%/year before nintedanib and − 1.6 ± 6.02%/year during nintedanib treatment (p = 0.014), whereas no significant change in FVC% relative decline was found in patients receiving another treatment (− 13.25 ± 34 before vs − 16.61 ± 36.2%/year during treatment; p = 0.343). Using linear mixed effect model, the slope in FVC was − 0.97%/month (95% CI: − 1.42; − 0.52) before treatment and − 0.50%/month (95% CI: − 0.88; 0.13) on nintedanib, with a difference between groups of + 0.47%/month (95% CI: 0.16; 0.78), p = 0.004. The decline in the upper lung volumes measured by CT was − 233 mL/year ± 387 mL/year before nintedanib and − 149 mL/year ± 173 mL/year on nintedanib (p = 0.327). Nintedanib tolerability was unremarkable. Conclusion In patients with PPFE, nintedanib treatment might be associated with slower decline in lung function, paving the way for prospective, controlled studies.