Clinical questions: Responses to clinical queries from readers: Chronic obstructive pulmonary d
isease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Jebin Roger

doi:10.4103/cmi.cmi_32_17

Users Online: 203

CLINICAL QUERIES

Year : 2017 | Volume : 15 | Issue : 2 | Page : 84-85

Clinical questions: Responses to clinical queries from readers: Chronic obstructive pulmonary d isease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Jebin Roger
Assistant Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Date of Web Publication

18-May-2017

Correspondence Address:
Jebin Roger
Assistant Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
India

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

Check

DOI: 10.4103/cmi.cmi_32_17

How to cite this article:
Roger J. Clinical questions: Responses to clinical queries from readers: Chronic obstructive pulmonary d isease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Curr Med Issues 2017;15:84-5

How to cite this URL:
Roger J. Clinical questions: Responses to clinical queries from readers: Chronic obstructive pulmonary d isease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Curr Med Issues [serial online] 2017 [cited 2022 May 24];15:84-5. Available from: https://www.cmijournal.org/text.asp?2017/15/2/84/206522

Question 1

How is a diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis made? How does one differentiate between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis in a basic medical setup?

COPD is a disease affecting the airways and is defined as a common, preventable, and treatable disease that is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation that is due to airway and/or alveolar abnormalities usually caused by a significant exposure to noxious particles or gases.^[1]

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is defined as spontaneously occurring (idiopathic) specific form of chronic fibrosing interstitial pneumonia limited to the lung and associated with a pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) or histologic appearance on surgical (thoracoscopic or open) lung biopsy.^[2]

Patients with these two diseases may have similar risk factors, history, and complaints. However, it is very important to differentiate them as the treatment is very different and the prognosis is much poorer for patients with IPF. Clinical examination, chest X-ray, spirometry, and HRCT help differentiate between these two diseases [Table 1].

Table 1: Features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Click here to view

In a low-resource setting, chest X-ray and spirometry are useful investigative modalities along with the clinical findings to help a physician come to a reasonable diagnosis.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

1.	COPD – GOLD Guidelines 2017. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease – Pocket Guide to COPD Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention. 2017 ed.^© 2017 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, Inc.; 2017. Available from: http://www.goldcopd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/wms-GOLD-2017-Pocket-Guide.pdf. [Last accessed on 2017 Mar 25].
2.	King TE Jr. Clinical Manifestations and Diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. UpToDate.com. Available from: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/clinical-manifestations-and-diagnosis-of-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis. [Last accessed on 2017 Mar 20].