Table 1.
Context | Recommendation | Strength of Recommendation | Confidence in Estimates of Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Treatment with mTOR inhibitors | For patients with LAM with abnormal/declining lung function, we recommend treatment with sirolimus rather than observation. | Strong | Moderate |
For selected patients with LAM with problematic chylous effusions, we suggest treatment with sirolimus before invasive management. | Conditional | Very low | |
Treatment with doxycycline | We suggest NOT using doxycycline as treatment for LAM. | Conditional | Low |
Treatment with hormonal therapy | We suggest NOT using hormonal therapy as treatment for LAM. (“Hormonal therapy” includes the progestins, GnRH agonists, selective estrogen receptor modulators like tamoxifen, and oophorectomy.) | Conditional | Very low |
VEGF-D as a diagnostic test | For patients whose CT scan shows cystic abnormalities characteristic of LAM but have no confirmatory clinical or extrapulmonary radiologic features of LAM, we recommend VEGF-D testing before consideration of proceeding to diagnostic lung biopsy. (“Confirmatory features of LAM” include tuberous sclerosis complex, angiomyolipomas, chylous pleural effusions or ascites, and cystic lymphangioleiomyomas.) | Strong | Moderate |
Definition of abbreviations: CT = computed tomography; GnRH = gonadotrophin-releasing hormone; LAM = lymphangioleiomyomatosis; mTOR = mechanistic target of rapamycin; VEGF-D = vascular endothelial growth factor D.