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Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by inflammation and/or fibrosis of the lungs, varying from idiopathic interstitial pneumonias to secondary variants, including the ILDs associated to connective tissue diseases (CTDs). In addition, a number of patients are recognized as unclassifiable ILD (U-ILD), because of the inability to reach a definite diagnosis; some of them show autoimmune manifestations not fulfilling the classification criteria of a given CTD. The term interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) has been recently proposed for this particular ILD subset.

Here, we report our experience resulting from the integrated — pneumology/rheumatology — approach to patients with suspected ILDs or CTDs referred to our university-based Center for the Rare Pulmonary Diseases and Rheumatology Unit, from January 2009 to June 2015 …