Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Comments

This article is the author's final published version in Breathe, Volume 18, Issue 4, December 2022, Article number 220147.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1183/20734735.0147-2022.

Copyright © ERS 2023

Breathe articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.

Abstract

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease of pulmonary scarring. New treatments slow disease progression and allow pulmonary fibrosis patients to live longer. Persistent pulmonary fibrosis increases a patient’s risk of developing lung cancer. Lung cancer in patients with IPF differs from cancers that develop in the non-fibrotic lung. Peripherally located adenocarcinoma is the most frequent cell type in smokers who develop lung cancer, while squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent in pulmonary fibrosis. Increased fibroblast foci in IPF are associated with more aggressive cancer behaviour and shorter doubling times. Treatment of lung cancer in fibrosis is challenging because of the risk of inducing an exacerbation of fibrosis. In order to improve patient outcomes, modifications of current lung cancer screening guidelines in patients with pulmonary fibrosis will be necessary to avoid delays in treatment. 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) computed tomography (CT) imaging can help identify cancer earlier and more reliably than CT alone. Increased use of wedge resections, proton therapy and immunotherapy may increase survival by decreasing the risk of exacerbation, but further research will be necessary.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Language

English

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