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World J Crit Care Med. Jun 9, 2023; 12(3): 153-164
Published online Jun 9, 2023. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v12.i3.153
Acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease in the intensive care unit: Principles of diagnostic evaluation and management
Muhammad K Hayat Syed, Or Bruck, Anupam Kumar, Salim Surani
Muhammad K Hayat Syed, Or Bruck, Anupam Kumar, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Salim Surani, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
Author contributions: Hayat Syed MK contributed to idea origination, literature review, write-up, and revision; Bruck O and Kumar A contributed to the literature review and write-up; Surani S contributed to idea origination, review, revision, and supervision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Salim Surani, FCCP, MD, MHSc, Academic Editor, Professor, Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, 400 BIZZELL ST, College Station, TX 77843, United States. srsurani@hotmail.com
Received: February 27, 2023
Peer-review started: February 27, 2023
First decision: March 28, 2023
Revised: April 18, 2023
Accepted: May 17, 2023
Article in press: May 17, 2023
Published online: June 9, 2023
Processing time: 100 Days and 9.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) refers to a heterogeneous group of parenchymal lung disorders. Most patients with ILD receive management in outpatient clinics. Patients with acute exacerbation of ILD may experience significant respiratory distress, requiring urgent management in an intensive care unit. Timely diagnosis and management of these patients using a multimodality team approach may improve both morbidity and mortality. When acute exacerbation of ILD progresses to irreversible end-stage respiratory failure, lung transplantation and/or palliative care may be appropriate treatment options depending on the individual patient’s clinical presentation.