Treatment of acute exacerbations of interstitial lung disease.

Treatment of acute exacerbations of interstitial lung disease. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2018 Feb 27;: Authors: Azadeh N, Moua T, Baqir M, Ryu JH Abstract INTRODUCTION: Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) include a broad range of diffuse parenchymal lung disorders of known and unknown etiologies. Patients with ILD can experience acute exacerbations (AE) which are associated with extremely high morbidity and mortality. Little is known about the etiology of AEs, and whether inciting triggers (such as infection) result in an aberrant inflammatory response in a predisposed host. Areas covered: The majority of data regarding AE-ILD comes from the interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) population and is extrapolated to other forms of ILD. For the purposes of this review we have summarized the current literature regarding AE of IPF, and when available have included data from AE of other ILDs. Expert Commentary: Therapeutic options for AE are limited without definitive treatments available, and the prognosis is often poor. Treatment is mainly based on correcting hypoxemia, looking for reversible etiologies of respiratory decline, and palliation of symptoms. Overall little is known about the pathogenesis of ILDs and AE-ILD, more research is needed to elucidate the pathogenesis of this phenomenon in hopes of identifying better treatment options. PMID: 29486130 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine - Category: Respiratory Medicine Tags: Expert Rev Respir Med Source Type: research