Interstitial lung disease: the initial approach.
Med Clin North Am. 2011 Nov;95(6):1071-93
Authors: Alhamad EH, Cosgrove GP
Abstract
In the last decade, significant progress has been made toward a better understanding of interstitial lung disease (ILD). A valuable tool for the clinician is high-resolution computed tomography, which aids in narrowing the differential diagnosis in patients with ILD and obviates the need for surgical lung biopsy when a usual interstitial pneumonia pattern is present. Clinicians evaluating and caring for patients with ILD need to recognize associated comorbidities. Substantial evidence shows that implementation of a multidisciplinary approach provides a high standard of care for patients, leading to improvements in the accuracy of clinical diagnosis that can significantly affect patient outcome.
PMID: 22032428 [PubMed - in process]