Interstitial Lung Disease Specialist
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Pulmonary Care Clinics
Pulmonology & Critical Care & Sleep Medicine Specialist located in Cooper City, FL
Interstitial lung disease isn't a single condition but a group of disorders such as pulmonary fibrosis that cause scarring of the lungs. If you're struggling with interstitial lung disease, Zael Vazquez, MD, and his team at Pulmonary Care Clinics in Cooper City, Florida, can help. Dr. Vazquez is a fellowship-trained expert in lung conditions who offers the most up-to-date treatments to help you manage your condition more effectively. To benefit from the team's experience, call Pulmonary Care Clinics today or book an appointment online.
Interstitial Lung Disease Q & A
What is interstitial lung disease?
Interstitial lung disease is a term for a large collection of disorders that typically cause progressive lung tissue scarring. These scars affect your lung function, limiting how much oxygen you can take in.
The primary symptoms of interstitial lung disease are shortness of breath at rest, made worse by physical exertion, and a dry cough. By the time these symptoms become serious enough to make you visit your doctor, there's likely to be irreversible lung damage.
What causes interstitial lung disease?
Interstitial lung disease apparently results from a lung injury that triggers an abnormal healing response. Your body should produce the optimal quantity of tissue to repair any damage, but when you have interstitial lung disease, this process goes wrong.
The tissue around your alveoli (the air sacs in your lungs) becomes thickened and scarred, which makes it harder to get enough oxygen into your blood.
There are numerous possible triggers for interstitial lung disease, including:
- Long-term exposure to toxins
- Silica dust
- Asbestos fibers
- Bird and animal droppings
- Radiation treatments
- Chemotherapy drugs
- Arrhythmia medications
- Some antibiotics
- Certain anti-inflammatory drugs
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Scleroderma
- Sjogren's syndrome
- Sarcoidosis
There are many other potential causes of interstitial lung disease, but some people develop the disease without any identifiable trigger. These are known as idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, the most dangerous of which is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
How is interstitial lung disease diagnosed?
Diagnosing interstitial lung disease isn't always straightforward, as the symptoms could result from many other disorders. Tests and procedures that you might need to undergo to diagnose your condition include:
- Blood tests
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan
- Echocardiogram
- Spirometry and diffusion capacity
- Oximetry
- Lung tissue analysis (biopsy)
To diagnose pulmonary fibrosis, your provider might need to perform a biopsy. They can extract a tissue sample from your lungs using a bronchoscope — an instrument that passes down your windpipe into your lungs — or remove the tissue surgically.
How is interstitial lung disease treated?
The scarring in your lungs that happens when you have interstitial lung disease is usually incurable, and the condition progresses even with treatment.
However, the team at Pulmonary Care Clinics offers a range of treatments that help slow the disease's progress, reduce your symptoms, and improve your quality of life.
Your provider creates a treatment plan for you guided by the nature of your condition and your individual needs. You might benefit from:
- Corticosteroid medications
- Drugs like pirfenidone or nintedanib
- H2-receptor antagonists
- Proton pump inhibitors
- Oxygen therapy
- Pulmonary rehabilitation
If you have severe interstitial lung disease and none of these treatments is helping, you may need to consider lung transplant surgery.
Whether you have interstitial lung disease and need expert support or you're experiencing symptoms of the condition, call Pulmonary Care Clinics today or book an appointment online.
