Pulmonary disease associated with inflammatory bowel disease

Extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn disease, and ulcerative colitis are frequently reported. While autoimmune disorders of the skin, eye, joints, and mouth remain the most common complications, a variety of pulmonary manifestations have been described. Numerous studies have investigated the frequency of subclinical disease associated with inflammatory bowel disease found on bronchoalveolar lavage and pulmonary function testing. Case reports on airways involvement, parenchymal lung disease, pleural disease, and complications of drug therapy all related to inflammatory bowel disease are numerous. In many reports, the severity of lung disease may be unrelated to inflammatory bowel disease activity. In this article, a comprehensive review of these manifestations is provided to raise the clinical suspicion for the presence of inflammatory bowel disease-related pulmonary complications.