Multidisciplinary interstitial lung disease (ILD) board: real life experience with 91 cases

Introduction and Background: ILD's are difficult to diagnose, to distinguish in their specific subtypes and to study because of their heterogeneity, overlapping clinical, radiological and pathological findings, and low prevalence. Multidisciplinary discussion is considered gold standard for diagnosis of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) according to recent ATS/ERS guidelines (2013). Interdisciplinary discussion has proven to increase consensus diagnosis and to avoid further unnecessary exams (Flaherty, et al. AJRCCM 2004). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the characteristics and diagnostic outcomes of…