Interstitial and parasitic disease

• History and clinical exam of Interstitial pulmonary fibrosis

  Insiduous onset

  Chronic breathlessness which is slowly progressive

  Coughing can be a feature

  Exercise intolerance

  Owner may notice cyanosis

  Can cause syncope

  Crackles throughout the lung fields, prolonged expiratory phase with expiratory effort.
• Diagnosis of IPF

  Suggestive clinical signs - diffuse crackles on auscultation, dyspnoea, coughing

  Thoracic radiographs - generalised interstitial lung patterns, +/- right sided cardiomegaly, +/- pulmonary hypertension.

  CT - typical ground glass appearance, diffuse increase opacity without loss appearance of blood vessels.

  Bronchoscopy - BAL samples are either normal or show low cellularity, rules out other inflammatory conditions (primarily chronic bronchtitis).

  Lung biopsy - only method of definitive diagnosis.
• Treatment of IPF


  Success of therapy depends largely on whether there are active inflammation present.

  Symptomatic treatment - avoid collars, harness’s only, avoid smoke inhalation.

  Inhaled therapy - bronchodilators, corticosteroids.

  Oral therapy - bronchodilators, corticosteroids. bronchodilators, especially if concurrent airway collapse. Corticosteroids.
• Prognosis for IPF

  Guarded as this is a progressive disease. Long-term palliative of clinical signs may be possible with combination therapy
• Interstitial pneumonias


  Not common. Severe subacute multifocal to coalescing interstitial pneumonia. The disease affects the interstitium - to some extent the alveoli and airways are relatively.
• Metastatic disease

  May be an incidental finding or present with cough/ tachypnoea. May be the first an owner knows about animal having cancer.

  Most common = osteosarcoma, haemangiosarcoma, thyroid carcinoma, melanoma of the mucocutaneous junction
• Metastasis therapy

  Solitary metastasis removal increasingly common. May start getting locally delivered chemo.