ILD

Interstitial lung disease (ILD), also known as diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD), refers to a group of lung diseases affecting the interstitium (the tissue and space around the air sacs of the lungs). It concerns alveolar epithelium, pulmonary capillary endothelium, basement membrane, perivascular and perilymphatic tissues.

The term ILD is used to distinguish these diseases from obstructive airways diseases.

Prolonged ILD may result in pulmonary fibrosis, but this is not always the case. The term Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is used to describe interstitial lung disease for which no obvious cause can be identified (idiopathic), and is associated with typical radiographic (basal and pleural based fibrosis with honeycombing) and pathologic (temporally and spatially heterogeneous fibrosis, histopathologic honeycombing and fibroblastic foci) findings.