Interstitial lung disease / Consultation template
New interstitial lung disease patient
The exposure, drug and connective tissue history that makes the diagnosis, in the detail the ILD MDT will ask for.
- 1Breathlessness
- 2Cough
- 3Best exercise tolerance in the last year…
- 4Weight loss, fever, fatigue
- 5Chest pain
- 6Occupational history, every job in order
- 7Asbestos
- 8Silica, coal, metal dust, welding fume
- 9Wood dust, textile dust, grain
- 10Personal protective equipment used
- 11Birds kept, now or in the past, includin…
- 12Feather bedding, duvets and pillows
- 13Damp, mould or water damage at home or w…
- 14Hot tub, humidifier or air conditioning
- 15Farming, hay, compost, mushrooms
- 16Any relationship between symptoms and be…
and 41 more, in the block below.
Referred with interstitial lung disease. History: Breathlessness: [onset, rate of change, MRC 1 to 5] Cough: [dry or productive, duration] Best exercise tolerance in the last year, and now: [] Weight loss, fever, fatigue: [] Chest pain: [] Occupational history, every job in order: [] Asbestos: [trade, years, and the nature of the exposure] Silica, coal, metal dust, welding fume: [] Wood dust, textile dust, grain: [] Personal protective equipment used: [] Environmental and antigen exposure: Birds kept, now or in the past, including a partner's: [species, years] Feather bedding, duvets and pillows: [] Damp, mould or water damage at home or work: [] Hot tub, humidifier or air conditioning: [] Farming, hay, compost, mushrooms: [] Any relationship between symptoms and being at home, at work, or away: [] Drugs, now and previously: [amiodarone, methotrexate, nitrofurantoin, bleomycin, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and any drug started within a year of symptoms] Radiotherapy to the chest: [] Recreational drug use, including inhaled: [] Connective tissue disease review: Joint pain, swelling or morning stiffness: [] Raynaud phenomenon: [] Dry eyes or dry mouth: [] Rash, photosensitivity, Gottron papules, mechanic's hands: [] Muscle weakness, difficulty rising from a chair or lifting arms: [] Reflux and dysphagia: [] Mouth ulcers, hair loss: [] Other: Smoking: [pack-years, quit date] Family history of pulmonary fibrosis or early grey hair or bone marrow failure: [] Reflux: [] Cardiac history: [] Examination: SpO2 []% at rest on air, [] after exertion Height [] cm, weight [] kg Crackles: [fine, velcro, distribution] Clubbing: [] Joints, skin, nails and nailfold capillaries: [] Signs of pulmonary hypertension or right heart failure: [] Investigations: High resolution CT: [pattern, distribution, honeycombing, traction bronchiectasis, ground glass, mosaicism, air trapping on expiration] Full lung function: FVC [] L ([]%), TLCO []%, and any previous values for comparison Walk test with oximetry: [distance, nadir SpO2] Autoimmune screen: [ANA, ENA, rheumatoid factor, anti-CCP, myositis panel, ANCA, CK] Serum precipitins or specific IgG to relevant antigens: [] Echocardiogram: [] Bronchoscopy with lavage or biopsy, if indicated: [] Impression: [radiological pattern] on CT, with [] % predicted FVC and [] % predicted TLCO, most consistent with [], to be discussed at the ILD MDT. Plan: 1. Discussed at ILD multidisciplinary meeting on [] 2. Antifibrotic or immunosuppressive treatment: [considered, started, or not indicated] 3. Antigen avoidance: [specific advice given] 4. Oxygen assessment: [] 5. Pulmonary rehabilitation: [] 6. Vaccination: [] 7. Smoking cessation: [] 8. Lung transplant discussion, or referral: [yes, no, with reason] 9. Clinical trial eligibility considered: [] 10. Review in [] months with repeat lung function
How to use it
The history is the investigation here. A drug list and a bird question take a minute and change the diagnosis often enough to justify asking every time — including about a partner's birds and about feather bedding, which patients do not volunteer because they do not consider them exposures. Ask about every job in order rather than "what do you do": the exposure that matters was usually forty years ago. Record baseline FVC and TLCO as numbers, because the diagnosis of progressive fibrosis and the decision to treat both rest on the change from this visit's values. Raise transplant early in anyone who might be a candidate: referral criteria are based on lung function and its trajectory, and late referral is a common and irreversible error.
Why it says that
None of this is in the copied text. It is here so you can check the block against its source, and change it when the source changes.
- ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT clinical practice guideline: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (an update) and progressive pulmonary fibrosis in adults (2022) The diagnostic framework, the definition of progressive pulmonary fibrosis, and the role of multidisciplinary discussion.
- NICE CG163 - Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in adults The UK pathway, including multidisciplinary diagnosis, symptom management and review intervals.
- ATS/JRS/ALAT clinical practice guideline: diagnosis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis in adults (2020) Why the exposure history is structured this way, and the role of specific IgG testing and lavage lymphocytosis.
- ISHLT consensus document for the selection of lung transplant candidates (2021) When to refer, which is earlier than most people assume.
Trials behind it
- INBUILD 2019 Nintedanib slowed FVC decline across progressive fibrosing ILD, whatever the underlying diagnosis
- ASCEND 2014 Pirfenidone slowed FVC decline and improved progression-free survival in IPF
- INPULSIS 2014 Nintedanib roughly halved the annual rate of FVC decline in IPF, at the cost of diarrhoea
- PANTHER-IPF 2012 The standard immunosuppressive regimen for IPF was killing patients
Records on respiratorytrials.org.