title: Management of interstitial lung disease in elderly patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review seeks to inform readers of evolving concepts of ageing-associated risks for developing interstitial lung disease (ILD) and current approaches to the diagnosis and management of ILD in elderly patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Various aspects of cellular and immune senescence have been identified that may explain the increased susceptibility of the elderly to developing fibrotic lung disease. New guidelines have been recently published concerning the diagnosis and management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), which is highly prevalent in elderly patients. Nontransplant therapies that can have a significant impact on disease progression for patients with IPF have yet to be identified. Additionally, evidence is accumulating that abnormal gastroesophageal reflux and microaspiration may play a role in IPF pathogenesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-resolution computed tomographic scanning of the thorax can play a key role in making a specific ILD diagnosis and be used to make a confident diagnosis of various forms of ILD, especially IPF, when combined with a consistent clinical presentation. Management of ILD in the elderly should be not only disease specific but potentially therapeutic, and supportive interventions should be tailored to each individual patient and not entail significant risk of adverse complications, especially for the frail elderly patient.
authors.affiliation: Section of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin 53792-9988, USA. kcm@medicine.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Keith C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D019468:Disease Management; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed