Definition & Etiology

Definition

• Interstitial lung disease (ILD): A Group of >200 diseases affecting the alveolar wall, causing fluid in alveolar airspaces

Prevalence

• More common in > 70 years for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Etiology

Acute causes:

• Infective: TB, viral (chickenpox, measles), fungal
• Allergic: drugs, fungi
• Toxins: gases, drugs
• Haemodynamic: LVF, fluid overload, renal failure
• Vasculitis
• ARDS

Episodic causes:

• Eosinophilic pneumonia
• Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis
• Vasculitis (EGPA)
• Hypersensitivity pneumonitis

Chronic causes:

• Occupational/Environmental: dust, asbestos, silicosis, coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, siderosis
• Farmer’s lung, bird fancier’s lung
• Radiation
• Drugs: gold, penicillamine, amiodarone, diltiazem, methotrexate, nitrofurantoin, sulfasalazine, methadone
• Systemic diseases: RA, SLE, Sjögren’s syndrome
• Neoplastic: lymphomas
• Vasculitis: GPA
• Sarcoidosis
• Inherited: neurofibromatosis, tuberculosis
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Chronic aspiration