ILDs

Training in today’s top-of-the-line treatments

The most effective treatment for ILDs is early diagnosis in order to slow down the progress of their development and WVU specializes in how to identify these qualities. Systemic evaluation of patients can reveal underlying etiology for ILDs and provide the opportunity to guide appropriate therapies including but not limited to exposure avoidance, immunosuppressive therapies and supplemental oxygen. Anti-fibrotic medication, along with pulmonary rehabilitation and possible early referral for lung transplant are all effective treatments. 

Research Opportunities

ILD related research is an integral part of our initiative of development of the ILD clinic at WVU. Efforts have helped to develop a WVU Medicine system wide cohort of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients. This allows the study of unique characteristics in these patients in terms of comorbidity burden, utilization of resources and guiding future trials for therapeutics. The University has focused resources on developing cohorts of rare lung disorders as manifestation of ANCA vasculitis, lung cancer prevalence in ILD and end-of-life care in progressive ILD diseases. There is currently an investigator-initiated trial in progress in close collaboration with NIOSH investigators that is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of anti-fibrotic drugs in coal workers with pneumoconiosis.