Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Program

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a broad category of lung diseases that includes more than 130 disorders characterized by scarring (i.e. "fibrosis") and / or inflammation of the lungs. 

Interstitial Lung Disease Center

The National Jewish Health Interstitial Lung Disease Center for Patient Care, Education, Discovery and Innovation is one of the largest interstitial lung disease (ILD) centers in the country.  We evaluate and treat thousands of patients each year. Our team of lung specialists partner with patients and their caregivers to develop customized, comprehensive care plans based on the latest research and treatment options. Our goal is to help our patients live full and active lives.

Getting the Right Diagnosis for ILD

Interstitial Lung Disease can take on many forms. Figuring out if a patient has ILD, and which form, can be challenging. Our team of specialists has a deep understanding of ILD and vast experience diagnosing and treating patients with this complex condition. By integrating clinical information, data generated by our world-class Pulmonary Physiology Services and our Institute for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, we are able to accurately diagnose every type of ILD.

Our Mission

The mission of the National Jewish Health Interstitial Lung Disease Center for Patient Care, Education, Discovery and Innovation is to:

• Diagnose and treat patients with (ILD), in any of its many forms

• Partner with ILD patients and their loved-ones to develop and oversee comprehensive care plans focused on improving their quality of life

• Educate the community at large about this complex group of lung disorders

• Train the next generations of ILD experts how to diagnose ILD and compassionately care for ILD patients

• Partner with investigators inside National Jewish Health, across the nation and around the world in the use of cutting-edge technologies and innovative research methods aimed at improving understanding of how ILD develops and why it progresses

• Discover interventions aimed at it improving how patients with ILD feel and function in their daily live 

Learn more about ILD.

Conditions We Treat

At National Jewish Health, we diagnose and treat all forms of ILD, including:

• Alveolar hemorrhage syndromes (e.g., idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage)

• Fibro-inflammatory airways diseases (e.g., bronchiolitis obliterans and follicular bronchiolitis)

• Chronic eosinophilic pneumonia (see hypereosinophilic syndromes)

• Connective tissue or autoimmune disease-related ILD (e.g., ILD related to Rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic sclerosis (Scleroderma), Dermato/polymyositis, Sjӧgren’s syndrome, Mixed connective tissue disease, inflammatory bowel disease)

• Cryptogenic (or known-cause) organizing pneumonia (COP or OP)

• Familial pulmonary fibrosis

• Granulomatous interstitial lung disease (e.g., sarcoidosis, GLILD or Granulomatous Lymphocytic Interstitial Lung Disease)

• Hypersensitivity pneumonitis

• Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (e.g., Idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia, acute interstitial pneumonia, desquamative interstitial pneumonia, respiratory bronchiolitis ILD, lymphoid interstitial pneumonia)

• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

• Lymphangioleiomyomatosis

• Pleuroparenchymal fibroelastosis

• Pulmonary Langerhan’s cell histiocytosis (formerly Eosinophilic granuloma or Histiocytosis X of the lung)

• Systemic vasculitis (e.g., ANCA-associated vasculitis including Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly Wegener’s granulomatosis) or Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly Churg Strauss syndrome))

ILD Research

We offer every patient we see the opportunity to participate in research. We believe the path to discovery in ILD involves partnering with patients to advance understanding of ILD, including its epidemiology, natural history, prognosis and treatment. Our team of researchers is committed to studying ILD from every angle using multiple innovative approaches. Together, with our patient research participants, we will continue to blaze new trails of discovery and innovation in ILD.