Rare lung disease without cure striking more people now

NAGPUR:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis or Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is a type of lung disease that results in damage and scarring (fibrosis) of the lungs, making it extremely difficult for the patient to breathe. The incidence of the disease seems to have increased by almost 50% in the last five years in the city. But, unfortunately, it is not diagnosed properly by most general physicians, who put patients on steroids, mistaking it for asthma, while all suspected cases need to be referred to pulmonologists for better treatment.
“There is no directed therapy for this disease, which is very rare (1 in 1 lakh population), but fast progressing disease.Chest CAT scan is the best diagnostic tool. But since there are very little treatment options, physicians treating must follow the right strategy,” said Dr Vikrant Deshmukh, consultant pulmonologist.
In the last six months, a new medicine Nintedanib, an anti-fibrotic drug, has been introduced in India. This drug too just improves the quality of life of the person but doesn’t cure the disease. The other therapies include oxygen therapy and lung transplant. “The lung transplant, however, can be only from cadaveric donation. This is a very expensive preposition and has not yielded very good results in India so far due to the associated infections,” said Dr Deshmukh.
Highlighting the causes of ILD, Dr Vikrant Deshmukh said, “The prevalence and incidence of IPF is more in older people as it is known to usually affect middle-aged and older adults aged between 40 to 70 years. The cause of the disease is yet to be discovered. However, it has also been suggested that genetics can play a role in the development of IPF.”
The disease makes the lungs hard and stiff, which prevents the oxygen from reaching all the lung cells. The first sign of the disease could be decreased lung capacity, which can be easily checked by a pulmonologist.
The treatments may not necessarily be able to reduce cough, breathlessness and other symptoms associated with the disease. Since the symptoms of IPF are very common, it is easily mistaken for cardiac disease, bronchitis, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. After the detection, survival time does not exceed 3-5 years.