Expert warns of lung disease 'time bomb' in UK

Date: Mar-28-2014The UK is sitting on a lung disease 'time bomb' says a leading respiratory expert.

Referring to the dramatic rise in cases of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Luca Richeldi,

professor and consultant in respiratory medicine at Southampton General Hospital in the UK, says there is

an urgent need to develop a quick and easy way to diagnose the rare lung disease.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) causes 5,000 deaths a year in the UK, and new cases are rising

at a rate of 5,000 a year, he warns.

IPF is a rare and poorly understood interstitial lung disease that causes inflammation and

scarring of the lungs. Of unknown cause, IPF gets worse over time and is often fatal. There is

no known cure, and life expectancy for patients with IPF is between 3 and 5 years.

The disease mostly strikes people between the age of 50 and 70, mainly men and former

smokers. In the UK, IPF affects around 15,000 people over 60. In the US, IPF affects

about 128,000 people, with about 48,000 new cases diagnosed annually and 40,000 deaths.

IPF often not diagnosed until symptoms appear

IPF is often not diagnosed until symptoms appear, such as shortness of breath and coughing.

Consequently, the most that the only available treatment - the anti-fibrotic drug Esbriet - can

do, is slow progression of the disease.

Speaking about the UK, Prof. Richeldi, says:

"Nationally, the number of people suffering from IPF and other interstitial lung disease is

increasing by thousands every year, but the cause is often unknown. As a result, the majority of

patients are diagnosed late when their life expectancy has been cut extremely short."

Of patients currently receiving treatment at Southampton General Hospital's respiratory

centre, over a quarter (28%) have some form of interstitial lung disease, and four to six new

patients with the condition are arriving every week.

Prof. Richeldi says these numbers show there is an "urgent need" to develop a quick and simple

way of diagnosing IPF.

Electronic stethoscopes can detect "ripping Velcro" sounds in patients with IPF

The number of people suffering from IPF is

increasing by thousands every year, but the cause is often unknown.

Prof. Richeldi has relaunched a study he started in Italy to establish if electronic

stethoscopes - normally used to listen to the heart - can detect early signs of IPF.

He and others believe the electronic stethoscopes can identify distinctive sounds - like the

crackling noise that ripped Velcro makes - that could "alert clinicians to people who might be

developing the early stages of the disease."

Patients making these sounds could then be sent for high-resolution CT scans to confirm the

diagnosis, he says, and that ideally this would be "before they become symptomatic, and give us

the opportunity to start an appropriate close monitoring programme and intervene before the

condition has taken hold."

Medical News Today recently learned how new research links body clocks to chronic

lung diseases. Scientists at the University of Manchester in the UK suggest the body's

natural rhythm could be used to improve current treatments to delay the onset of chronic lung

diseases.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD




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