Interstitial lung diseases (ILD): morphologic, functional and tomographic correlations using histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and morphometric techniques

Abstract

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) comprise a variety of clinicopathological entities, which share many features, but are sufficiently different from one another to be designated as separate disease entities. As a group they can be distinguished from other forms of diffuse parenchymal lung disease by clinical methods including history, physical examination, laboratory studies, chest radiology and pathology. Other members of diffuse interstitial lung diseases are occupational and environmental lung diseases, and parenchymal lung diseases associated with collagen vascular disease and a small number of other diseases of unknown etiology but with distinctive histopathology, like sarcoidosis and lymphangioleiomyomatosis. The purpose of this project is to investigate: 1) the role of histopathological markers to distinguishing the ILD's from other forms of diffuse parenchymallung disease; 2) the role of complementary techniques as the histochemistry and immunohistochemistry to improve the differential diagnosis and the etiopathogenesis among the ILD; 3) the correlation between clinical, pathological and radiological markers to establish degree of activity and prognosis of the ILD; 4) the role of the extracellular matrix remodelling in the comprehension of the pathogenetic mechanisms in the ILD. (AU)