Keith C. Meyer • Steven D. Nathan
Editors

2014

A Comprehensive Clinical Guide

The term, idiopathic pulmonary fi brosis (IPF), fi rst appeared in the medical literature in the mid-twentieth century. However, the disorder described by this term has undergone a metamorphosis from a loosely defined diagnostic entity that encompassed a number of fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) to what we now (as of the twenty-first century) recognize as a tightly defined fibrotic lung disorder that is characterized by the presence of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) that is not linked to the presence of a connective tissue disorder (CTD) or caused by an inhaled agent (such as asbestos) or drug-induced lung injury.