The impact of
fibrotic ILD

Progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) in interstitial lung disease (ILD) can be deadly – your early recognition of fibrotic ILD on HRCT is critical1–4

SUSPECT PULMONARY FIBROSIS

A COMMON THREAT ACROSS A WIDE RANGE OF FIBROTIC ILDs1–4

Progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) in ILDs is a key driver of irreversible harm and early mortality1–4

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), by definition, is a progressive fibrosing ILD.5,6 In addition to IPF, disease progression occurs in a range of other ILDs.5,7–11

Patients with a range of ILDs may develop PPF, including connective tissue disease-associated ILDs (CTD-ILDs)11

Patients with a range of ILDs may develop PPF, including connective tissue disease-associated ILDs (CTD-ILDs)

The coral shaded area represents the estimated proportion of patients with various types of ILD who manifest PPF.

Antifibrotic treatment is indicated for patients diagnosed with IPF.12 Antifibrotic treatment of the other types of ILD upon manifesting PPF is as suggested/recommended in the referenced guideline.

*The guideline committee acknowledges that eosinophilic pneumonia of unknown cause was not included in the IIP classification. Myositis includes PM/DM/antisynthetase syndrome, which may be amyopathic. Although respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease (RBILD) is acknowledged to be a consequence of exposure to cigarette smoke in virtually all patients with RBILD, RBILD and desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) often coexist. Although DIP is also related to exposure with cigarette smoke in a majority of patients, DIP is also seen in some patients with connective tissue disease, without exposure to cigarette smoke, and without a known cause.

AFOP, acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia; AIP, acute interstitial pneumonia; COP, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia; HP, hypersensitivity pneumonitis; iDIP, idiopathic DIP; IIP, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia; iLIP, idiopathic lymphoid interstitial pneumonia; iNSIP, idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonia; iPPFE, idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis; LAM, lymphangioleiomyomatosis; LCH, Langerhans cell histiocytosis; MCTD, mixed connective tissue disease; PAP, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis; PM, polymyositis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SSc, systemic sclerosis.

Adapted from: Raghu G, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;205(9):e18–e47.

ILD often develops early in the course of a CTD13–16

ILD may even be the first manifestation of a previously undiagnosed or unrecognized CTD.13–16

PPF in ILDs can be deadly4,17–27

PPF in ILDs can be deadly

cHP, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis; IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; RA-ILD, rheumatoid arthritis-associated ILD; SSc-ILD, systemic sclerosis-associated ILD; uILD, unclassifiable interstitial pneumonitis.

Your early recognition of fibrotic ILD on HRCT can lead to treatment that can slow disease progression and reduce the risk of early mortality5,7,28-30

Footnotes

AFOP, acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia; AIP, acute interstitial pneumonia; cHP, chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis; COP, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia; CTD, Connective tissue disease; CTD-ILD, connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease; HP, hypersensitivity pneumonitis; HRCT, high-resolution computed tomography; iDIP, idiopathic desquamative interstitial pneumonia; IIP, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia; ILD, interstitial lung disease; iLIP, idiopathic lymphoid interstitial pneumonia; iNSIP, idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonia; IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; iPPFE, idiopathic pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis; LAM, lymphangioleiomyomatosis; LCH, Langerhans cell histiocytosis; MCTD, mixed connective tissue disease; PAP, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis; PPF, progressive pulmonary fibrosis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RA-ILD, rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease; RBILD, respiratory bronchiolitis interstitial lung disease; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SSc, systemic sclerosis; SSc-ILD, systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease; uILD, unclassifiable interstitial pneumonitis.

  1. Flaherty KR, Brown KK, Wells AU, et al. Design of the PF-ILD trial: A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase III trial of nintedanib in patients with progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2017;4:e000212.
  2. Patterson KC, Strek ME. Pulmonary fibrosis in sarcoidosis. Clinical features and outcomes. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2013;10(4):362–370.
  3. Caban JJ, Yao J, Bagci U, Mollura DJ. Monitoring pulmonary fibrosis by fusing clinical, physiological, and computed tomography features. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2011;6216–6219.
  4. Wells AU, Brown KK, Flaherty KR, et al. What’s in a name? That which we call IPF, by any other name would act the same. Eur Respir J. 2018;51(5):1800692.
  5. Cottin V, Wollin L, Fischer A, et al. Fibrosing interstitial lung diseases: knowns and unknowns. Eur Respir Rev. 2019;28:180100.
  6. Olson A, Hartmann N, Patnaik P, et al. Estimation of the prevalence of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases: systematic literature review and data from a physician survey. Adv Ther. 2021;38:854–867.
  7. Cottin V, Hirani N, Hotchkin D, et al. Presentation, diagnosis and clinical course of the spectrum of progressive-fibrosing interstitial lung diseases. Eur Respir Rev. 2018;27(150):180076.
  8. Kolb M, Vašáková M. The natural history of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases. Respir Res. 2019;20:57.
  9. Maher TM, Wuyts W. Management of fibrosing interstitial lung diseases. Adv Ther. 2019;36:1518–1531.
  10. Wijsenbeek M, Kreuter M, Olson A, et al. Progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases: current practice in diagnosis and management. Curr Med Res Opin. 2019;35:2015–2024.
  11. Raghu G, Remy-Jardin M, Richeldi L et al. Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (an update) and progressive pulmonary fibrosis in adults. An Official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT Clinical Practice Guideline. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;205:e18–e47.
  12. Raghu G, Rochwerg B, Zhang Y, et al. An official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT clinical practice guideline: treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. An update of the 2011 clinical practice guideline. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015;192:e3–e19.
  13. Fischer A, Distler J. Progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease associated with systemic autoimmune diseases. Clin Rheumatol. 2019;38(10):2673–2681.
  14. Koo SM, Kim SY, Choi SM, et al. Korean guidelines for diagnosis and management of interstitial lung diseases: part 5. Connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease. Tuberc Respir Dis (Seoul). 2019;82(4):285–297.
  15. Vacchi C, Sebastiani M, Cassone G, et al. Therapeutic options for the treatment of interstitial lung disease related to connective tissue diseases. A narrative review. J Clin Med. 2020;9(2):407.
  16. Mathai SC, Danoff SK. Management of interstitial lung disease associated with connective tissue disease. BMJ. 2016;352:h6819.
  17. Ryerson CJ, Urbania TH, Richeldi L, et al. Prevalence and prognosis of unclassifiable interstitial lung disease. Eur Respir J. 2013;42:750–757.
  18. Hyldgaard C, Bendstrup E, Wells AU, Hilberg O. Unclassifiable interstitial lung diseases: Clinical characteristics and survival. Respirology. 2017;22(3):494–500.
  19. Wells AU, Cullinan P, Hansell DM, et al. Fibrosing alveolitis associated with systemic sclerosis has a better prognosis than lone cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis. Am J Respir Crit Med.1994;149(6):1583–1590.
  20. Mapel DW, Hunt WC, Utton R, et al. Coultas DB. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: survival in population based and hospital based cohorts. Thorax. 1998;53(6):469–476.
  21. Hubbard R, Johnston I, Britton J. Survival in patients with cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis: a population-based cohort study. Chest. 1998;113(2):396–400.
  22. Goh NS, Desai SR, Veeraraghavan S, et al. Interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis: a simple staging system. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008;177(11):1248–1254.
  23. Moore OA, Goh N, Corte T, et al. Extent of disease on high-resolution computed tomography lung is a predictor of decline and mortality in systemic sclerosis-related interstitial lung disease. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2013;52(1):155–160.
  24. Kim EJ, Elicker BM, Maldonado F, et al. Usual interstitial pneumonia in rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease. Eur Respir J. 2010;35(6):1322–1328.
  25. Bongartz T, Nannini C, Medina-Velasquez YF, et al. Incidence and mortality of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis: a population-based study. Arthritis Rheum. 2010;62(6):1583–1591.
  26. Gimenez A, Storrer K, Kuranishi L, et al. Change in FVC and survival in chronic fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Thorax. 2018;73(4):391–392.
  27. Vourlekis JS, Schwarz MI, Cherniack RM, et al. The effect of pulmonary fibrosis on survival in patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Am J Med. 2004;116(10):662–668.
  28. Zibrak JD, Price D. Interstitial lung disease: raising the index of suspicion in primary care. NPJ Prim Care Respir Med. 2014;24:14054.
  29. Molina-Molina M, Aburto M, Acosta O, et al. Importance of early diagnosis and treatment in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Exp Rev Resp Med. 2018;12:537–539.
  30. Cottin V, Valenzuela C. Diagnostic approach of fibrosing interstitial lung diseases of unknown origin. Presse Med. 2020;49(2):104021.

Resources for patients