Care and Management of Interstitial Lung Disease and Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease

Austin Pulmonary Consultants’ care and management of interstitial lung disease, also known as diffuse parenchymal lung disease, involves obtaining a detailed history and physical exam as well as pulmonary function and laboratory testing and imaging.

Lung biopsy may also be required.

Interstitial lung diseases encompass a wide variety of pulmonary conditions, explaining why we employ state-of-the-art evaluation, pulmonary function testing, and imaging to obtain a diagnosis. This combination of information allows us to discuss and decide on a treatment and management plan.

Examples of some of the interstitial lung diseases we treat include:

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Interstitial lung disease (ILD) spans a group of lung diseases with common symptoms but different causes. It is a chronic condition, meaning it can last for years or a lifetime. At Austin Pulmonary Consultants, we treat the symptoms and, when possible, the root causes.

Those causes may be known or unknown. Known causes include long-term exposure to hazardous materials like asbestos, autoimmune and rheumatologic diseases, adverse reactions to certain medications, and even radiation. Unknown causes tend to present as specific forms of ILD such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

You may experience a variety of symptoms with ILD. They include a dry cough and shortness of breath, with the latter sometimes occurring even when you aren’t doing anything strenuous. Because these symptoms accompany a number of lung diseases, we perform extensive testing for diagnosis.

There are a variety of treatments depending on the underlying disease but most involve treatment with steroids or other anti-inflammatory or immune modulating medication. We then monitor the treatment’s effectiveness in order to prevent recurrence or in some cases, progression of the disease.