Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease

CD Ranasinha, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK
RM du Bois, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0002132

Diffuse parenchymal lung diseases predominately affect the acinar regions of the lung. Some types of the disease are relatively common, while others are extremely rare, but taken together they affect roughly 1 in 3–4000 of the UK population and in many cases there is irreversible scarring.

Keywords: diffuse lung disease; diagnostic algorithm; bronchoalveolar lavage; high-resolution computed tomography; radionuclide imaging; therapy

Figure 1. Structures within the lung affected by diffuse parenchymal lung diseases. (a) A terminal respiratory unit – the acinus. (b) The alveolar–endothelial interface and ‘the interstitium’.
Figure 2. Protocol for the investigation of diffuse parenchymal lung disease.
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 References
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 Further Reading
    book Black CM and du Bois RM (1995) "Organ involvement: pulmonary". In: Clements PJ and Furst DE (eds) Systemic Sclerosis, pp. 299–332. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
    du Bois RM (1994) Diffuse lung disease: an approach to management. British Medical Journal 309: 175–179.
    du Bois RM (guest ed.) (1998) Pulmonary vascular disease. Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 19: 1–96.
    book du Bois RM and Turner-Warwick M (1996) "Diffuse parenchymal lung disease". In: Brewis RA, Corrin B, Geddes DM and Gibson GJ (eds) Respiratory Medicine, pp. 1365–1375. London: WB Saunders.
    Kalassian KG, Doyle R, Kao P, Ruoss S and Raffin T (1997) Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: new insights. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 155: 1183–1186.
    book King TE Jr (1998) "Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis". In: Schwartz MI and King TE Jr (eds) Interstitial Lung Diseases, pp. 597–644. Hamilton, ON, Canada: BC Decker.
    book Lynch JP and DeRemee RA (eds) (1991) Immunologically Mediated Pulmonary Diseases. Philadelphia, PA: JB Lippincott.
    book Newman-Taylor AJ (1996) "Extrinsic allergic alveolitis". In: Brewis RA, Corrin B, Geddes DM and Gibson GJ (eds) Respiratory Medicine, pp. 1394–1402. London: WB Saunders.
    book Tazi A and Hance AJ (1995) "Pulmonary histiocytosis X". In: Walters EH and du Bois RM (eds) Immunology and Management of Interstitial Lung Diseases, pp. 305–318. London: Chapman and Hall.

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Inflammation | Allergy and Hypersensitivity
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Article Title: Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease
 
How to Cite close
Ranasinha, CD, and Bois, RM du(Apr 2001) Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0002132]