One of the non-IPF causes of pulmonary fibrosis is chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis.  This disease is probably more common than we think.  Patients have symptoms of cough and shortness of breath. The disease is slowly progressive for the most part, though there is a form that is more dramatic with fevers and rapidly progressive symptoms. Causes of Hypersensitivity … [Read more...]

Although IPF gets most of the attention, the other causes of Pulmonary Fibrosis are more common.  It is particularly important to diagnose IPF correctly as it is treated very differently from the other causes of Pulmonary Fibrosis. Pulmonary Fibrosis May be Broadly Divided into 3 Groups. Idiopathic: The diagnostic criteria are well described and include a typical pattern … [Read more...]

  Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis is one of many lung diseases that leave scar or fibrosis in the lungs. Patients with IPF generally are older than 50 years of age and don’t have a connective tissue disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus or other diseases associated with scarring in the lungs. The high resolution CT scans show lower lobe predominant … [Read more...]

  We greatly appreciate the questions that our readers submit.  We recently received a collection of questions about lung biopsy. Why is Lung Biopsy Important in Pulmonary Fibrosis? Pulmonary fibrosis is a general term that describes scarring in the lungs.  There are many lung diseases that have lung scarring as a feature. Determining the specific lung disease is … [Read more...]