Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)

Royal Brompton Hospital’s interstitial lung disease unit played a central part in the reclassification of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and the related idiopathic interstitial pneumonias in 2001.

Subsequent research at Royal Brompton has confirmed the key criteria essential for diagnosing and predicting disease progression in IPF. The unit is involved in active research to better understand IPF (including the PROFILE study and the EuroIPF network study) and in recruiting patients for clinical trials (B-PHIT).

For further information on ongoing clinical trials within the unit, please contact Dr Toby Maher.

Sarcoidosis

The ILD unit runs a Thursday afternoon sarcoid clinic.

This is the largest dedicated sarcoid clinic of its kind in the UK. We have particular expertise in the management of chronic and multi-organ sarcoidosis and run monthly combined cardiac-sarcoid and neuro-sarcoid clinics.

We also have close links with dermatologists and ear nose and throat surgeons based at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for the shared care of individuals with sarcoid affecting the skin and upper respiratory tract.

Read more about sarcoidosis on our patient pages.

Scleroderma associated interstitial lung disease

The ILD unit has close and longstanding links with the scleroderma unit at the Royal Free Hospital and has established considerable expertise in the management of scleroderma associated pulmonary fibrosis.

Royal Brompton Hospital was the lead centre in the recently published FAST trial that established the currently used treatment regimen for progressive scleroderma associated lung disease.

More recently we have identified the key clinical features that predict patients with more progressive lung disease.

Read more about sclerodoma on our patient pages. 

Interstitial lung disease associated pulmonary hypertension

There is a close link between the interstitial lung disease unit and Royal Brompton's Pulmonary Hypertension Service with a shared clinic on Tuesday mornings. Our units have an overlapping research programme exploring the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension in patients with interstitial lung disease.