Acute Medicine | Breathlessness 04 knowledge B

Pathway to Diagnosing Interstitial Lung Disease
Session Overview
Description
Having established a history, examination, and chest x-ray (CXR) that suggest a possibility of interstitial lung disease (ILD) as a diagnosis, this session will identify subsequent appropriate investigations to establish a more precise diagnosis.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify appropriate further investigations for a patient with suspected interstitial lung disease (ILD)

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) encompasses a diverse range of conditions. Some of these are of known cause, and some unknown. Some are relatively common, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (annual incidence 5-10 per 100 000 people per year), and some are exceptionally rare.

Once a diagnosis is suspected in a patient presenting acutely, there is a common pathway of investigations to attempt to establish a diagnosis. The speed, priority and feasibility of these will of course have to be modified depending on how unwell the patient is.