Interstitial lung disease associated with drug therapy

2004

Drug-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) is not uncommon, with diverse patterns ranging from benign infiltrates to the potentially fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome. As acute respiratory failure due to drug-associated ILD has an unpredictable onset and rapid time course, establishing a diagnosis is often difficult. An accurate diagnosis is based on clinical, radiological (including high-resolution computed tomography) and histological manifestations, although is often only possible by exclusion. Cancer chemotherapy is commonly associated with acute disease that, on pathology, is often diffuse alveolar damage. Furthermore, a combination of drugs with or without radiotherapy ca…