Diagnosing complications and co-morbidities of fibrotic interstitial lung disease.

Diagnosing complications and co-morbidities of fibrotic interstitial lung disease. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2019 Jun 19;: Authors: Margaritopoulos GA, Kokosi MA, Wells AU Abstract Introduction: Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) represent a heterogeneous group of rare disorders that include more than 200 entities, mostly associated with high mortality. In recent years, the progress regarding the understanding of the pathogenesis of these diseases, led to the approval of specific treatments. In ILDs, the presence of comorbidities has a significant impact on the quality of life and the survival of patients and, therefore, their diagnosis and treatment has a pivotal role in management and could improve overall outcome. Areas covered: We discuss key diagnostic issues with regard to the most frequent comorbidities in ILDs. Treatment options are also discussed as the decision to investigate more definitively in order to identify specific comorbidities (including lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension, GE reflux and obstructive sleep apnoea) is critically dependent upon whether comorbidity-specific treatments are likely to be helpful in individual patients, judged on a case by case basis. Expert opinion: The extent to which clinicians proactively pursue the identification of comorbidities depends on realistic treatment goals in individual patients. PMID: 31215263 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine - Category: Respiratory Medicine Tags: Expert Rev Respir Med Source Type: research