Surgical lung biopsy impacts diagnosis, treatment in ILD

Nearly half of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) experienced a change in diagnosis after a multidisciplinary team considered the results of a surgical lung biopsy in the diagnosis process, according to a study.

In this retrospective study, data from 73 patients with ILD who underwent SLB were reviewed twice by a multidisciplinary team, once with and once without the results of the SLB.

The median postoperative hospital length of stay was 2 days.

Overall, 17% of patients (n = 13) experienced ≥1 complication. No serious complications were noted.

In the multidisciplinary discussion (MDD) without SLB results, diagnoses included idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonia in 20 (27%), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 18 (25%), fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis in 15 (21%), unclassifiable interstitial lung disease in 5 (7%), and other diagnoses in 15 patients (21%).

When SLB results were included in the second MMD, the final diagnosis in 48% of participants was changed, resulting in therapeutic changes in 45% of patients.

Reference
Le Guen P, Iquille J, Debray MP, et al. Clinical Impact of Surgical Lung Biopsy for Interstitial Lung Disease in a Reference Center. Ann Thorac Surg. 2021:S0003-4975(21)01428-4. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2021.07.038. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34403693.