How to Test for Interstitial Lung Disease

Interstitial lung disease, or ILD for short, can occur on its own or as a complication of certain chronic diseases, including autoimmune diseases. In simple terms, tissue in the lungs becomes scarred, making it more difficult for oxygen to get from the air you breathe into your bloodstream. Signs of ILD include shortness of breath, a constant dry cough, tiredness and flu-like symptoms. Other conditions look like ILD, so it is important to test for the right problem to treat. If your doctor thinks you may have ILD, he will run one or more of the following tests to find out for sure.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) measure the amount of air you exhale after inhaling deeply. Certain PFTs determine how much air your lungs can hold and how efficiently the oxygen you breathe in enters the bloodstream. This helps doctors decide how much damage has occurred. Sometimes doctors will have you exercise before or during a test to see how exercise affects your breathing capacity.
2. Simple X-rays can help detect ILD as the scarred tissue will be apparent on the X-ray film. X-rays are often used to rule out other possible complications and may not be as accurate in diagnosing ILD as other tests.
3. Computed tomography, or CT, scans take a more detailed look at the lungs by using cross-section images.
4. For a bronchoscopy, a doctor threads a small tube through your mouth and throat, which will be numbed, and into your lungs to retrieve small tissue samples for study.
5. Sometimes a lung biopsy provides enough tissue for a proper diagnosis. You will be under anesthesia while the doctor surgically removes a piece of tissue that is typically about one-half inch or larger. The surgery can be an open procedure, in which there is a longer cut made, or thoracoscopic, where a smaller incision is adequate with the help of camera technology.
6. Bronchoalveolar lavage is more often needed to decide if the disease is still causing scar tissue to form. If it is, treatments may help; if not, you can potentially avoid medicines and their possible side effects. For this test, doctors inject a saline solution directly into your lungs and immediately suction the solution out. Doctors can then look at the cells from the lungs that come out in the solution.