Pulmonary fibrosis is the disease in which lung tissue becomes thick and stiff as compared to its normal elastic form. The tissue basically becomes scarred dead material hampering the basic functions of the lung that is the exchange of gases between blood and the environment. Patients generally have difficulty in breathing and recurrent cough. In most of cases, the cause of fibrosis can not be determined and in medical terms, it is called as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Over more than 50 thousand of cases are diagnosed each year.
There are over 210 types of Pulmonary Fibrosis and in most of the types, the cause of fibrosis is not known. The common types are
In most people suffering from PF symptoms develop between 50 to 70 years of age.
Chest X-ray: in the early stages of pulmonary fibrosis the chest x-ray is normal most of the time so a CT scan is required.
CT scan: A high-resolution CT scan is done to find out the tissue architecture of the lung such that a 3-dimensional structure is created.
Echocardiogram: It is done for patients with heart complications associated with pulmonary fibrosis.
The lung tissue which has undergone fibrosis can’t be reversed back to normal. The changes are permanent. Every person’s condition is unique because there is no standard clinical course.
Treatment comprises of medication, non-medication therapy (like exercise), oxygen therapy, and at last the lung transplantation.
The prognosis of pulmonary fibrosis is not good as there is no effective treatment that can stop the progression of the disease but the progression can be delayed and that varies greatly from person to person because some people have a progressively deteriorating course despite being treated continuously.