Interstitial lung disease: the initial approach.
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.
Division of Pulmonary Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, KS, USA. esamalhamad@yahoo.com
Esam H
EH
Alhamad
Gregory P
GP
Cosgrove
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