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Rheumatoid arthritis is a common systemic disease that manifests as inflammatory arthritis of multiple joints and produces a wide variety of intrathoracic lesions, including pleural diseases, rheumatoid nodules, diffuse interstitial pneumonia, pulmonary vasculitis, and airway disease that includes bronchiectasis, bronchiolitis obliterans, and follicular bronchiolitis . chronic systemic disease, primarily of the joints, marked by inflammatory changes in the synovial membranes and articular structures, widespread fibrinoid degeneration of the collagen fibers in mesenchymal tissues, and by atrophy and rarefaction of bony structures; etiology is unknown, but autoimmune mechanisms have been implicated.
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