BMC Medicine recently started an idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) article collection. It should help educate patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals by delivering the most up-to-date research and latest advancements in treatment.
Here’s a glimpse at some of the things you’ll find there:
- The number of cases of IPF are going up. Diagnosis and prognosis rates even look similar to some forms of cancer (such as liver cancer)
- Researchers are starting to identify some of the contributing factors to IPF, including genetic components and environmental risk factors
- Researchers have been able to identify specific gene mutations in 39% of the IPF population. Unfortunately, that still leaves 61% of the IPF population with unidentified genetic factors
- Various familial syndromes (such as Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome and dyskeratosis congenita) can increase the chances of a person developing IPF
- Ever wonder why lungs scar in the first place? Scarring is considered to be an evolutionary development that helps prevent blood loss or the invasion of pathogens by sealing up a wound. Because of this, environmental conditions that may injure the lungs are also considered to be a key component in the development of IPF.
There’s a lot more than can be learned from the collection. Some writings are more scientific in nature than others (and a little harder to digest), but in general there should be something for various reading levels.
