A New Hope for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

I suspect that many of my patients have picked up on more than a hint of frustration in my voice when I tell them that the cause of their shortness of breath is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This frustration stems from the fact that beyond providing information about prognosis or referral for lung transplantation or palliation, there has been little to offer in the way of treatment. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic, progressive disorder of lung scarring that predominantly affects older patients and has a death rate worse than that of many cancers (3-year survival, 50%).1 However, in contrast to . . .