Interstitial Lung Disease Spotlight-Interstitial Lung Abnormalities: When are they Incidental? When are they ILD?

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The talk focused on interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) and their relevance in clinical practice. ILAs are subclinical high-density interstitial abnormalities that are often found incidentally on CT scans performed for other reasons. They are not associated with specific symptoms and can include various findings such as ground glass, reticulation, honeycombing, and traction bronchiectasis. ILAs are a common finding and their prevalence is higher in smokers, patients with advanced age, and those with elevated BMI. ILAs are important because they have been associated with disease progression and higher mortality rates. However, it is challenging to predict which ILAs will progress and which will stay stable, as there are no clear markers for this. The Fleischner Society has provided guidelines for the management of ILAs, including repeat CT scans at regular intervals to monitor for changes over time. The use of radiomics and artificial intelligence may help in better predicting the progression of ILAs, and other imaging modalities such as PET-CT and xenon ventilation imaging are also being explored. In conclusion, ILAs are common findings on CT scans and can be associated with disease progression and increased mortality. Monitoring for changes over time is important, and further research is needed to better predict the prognosis of ILAs.

Meta Tag

Category Diffuse Lung Disease

Speaker Sean Callahan, MD

Speaker Jonathan Chung

Speaker Juliana Bueno, MD

Keywords

interstitial lung abnormalities

ILA

CT scans

disease progression

mortality rates

Fleischner Society

guidelines

radiomics

prognosis