What is Pulmonary Fibrosis?
Pulmonary fibrosis is a serious lung disease that affects the respiratory system.
This condition can leave scars and thicken lung tissue.
This affects the connective tissue in the lungs and the alveoli (air sacs in the lungs). The lung damage gradually gets worse over time.
Hard, stiff lung tissue doesn’t expand as it should, making it harder to breathe.
Pulmonary fibrosis can cause shortness of breath when you do activities that never felt tiring before.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Symptoms
When experiencing pulmonary fibrosis, sufferers can experience the following symptoms:
- Difficulty breathing, especially after physical activity. In severe cases, this condition can occur even at rest.
- A cough that lasts for a long time without phlegm or mucus.
- A feeling of tiredness that doesn’t go away even after resting.
- Pain or discomfort in the chest area, which may worsen when breathing deeply or coughing.
- Unexplained weight loss or without changes in diet or physical activity.
- The tips of the fingers or toes become enlarged and the nails curve more than usual. This is a sign of chronic hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood).
- Swelling in the legs due to increased pressure in the pulmonary blood vessels which affects blood circulation.
- Change in voice to hoarse or raspy.
- Lack of appetite, which can contribute to weight loss.
Causes of Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which lung tissue becomes stiff or thick, interfering with its function of supplying oxygen to the blood.
The following are several factors that can trigger pulmonary fibrosis, including:
1. Exposure to Chemicals in the Work Environment
Working in an environment full of chemicals or hazardous particles can increase the risk of pulmonary fibrosis, especially if a person is exposed for a long period of time.
Substances commonly found in the work environment that pose a risk of causing pulmonary fibrosis include:
- Hard metal dust and asbestos fibers
- Grain dust
- Coal dust
- Bird and animal droppings
Exposure to these contaminants can cause chronic inflammation of the lungs, and if not treated promptly, can progress to pulmonary fibrosis.
2. Certain Disease Conditions
Certain medical conditions can cause or worsen pulmonary fibrosis, including autoimmune diseases and respiratory infections.
Some of these diseases include:
- Pneumonia: This infection can cause acute inflammation of the lungs, increasing the risk of fibrosis.
- Dermatomyositis and Polymyositis: These two autoimmune conditions cause inflammation of the muscles, which can also affect the lungs.
- Sarcoidosis, Rheumatoid arthritis, and Lupus: These autoimmune diseases can damage lung tissue and accelerate the development of fibrosis.
- Scleroderma causes hardening of the connective tissue, which can spread to the lungs, making them stiff and difficult to function properly.
Each of these diseases has the potential to cause pulmonary fibrosis through chronic inflammation or long-term tissue damage.
3. Undergoing a Medical Procedure
Some medical procedures can also increase the risk of lung tissue damage, especially treatments that use radiation such as radiotherapy in cancer patients.
The risk of lung damage will increase if:
- The area of the lung exposed is larger, the larger the part of the lung that receives radiation, the greater the damage that may occur.
- The total dose of radiation administered, where high doses increase the risk of lung tissue damage.
- Additional treatments, such as chemotherapy
Lung damage from medical procedures is often not immediately apparent, but can appear months to years after therapy ends.
4. Use of Drugs
It should be noted that consumption of certain drugs can also trigger pulmonary fibrosis.
These medications include:
- Chemotherapy : Often used to treat cancer, but can cause fibrosis in the long term.
- Medications for heart disease and certain antibiotics : These medications, if used long-term, can damage lung tissue.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs : Although they help with inflammation, overuse can have negative effects on lung tissue.
The side effects of these drugs may be more severe if the patient has other risk factors, such as smoking or pre-existing lung health conditions.
In addition, other factors such as exposure to cigarette smoke and viral infections play a role in the development of idiopathic fibrosis.
The risk of pulmonary fibrosis can also increase if there are family members with the same condition.
Although some of the causes of pulmonary fibrosis have not been fully identified, understanding these risk factors can help in preventing or detecting pulmonary fibrosis early, so that appropriate treatment can be given immediately.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Risk Factors
Several factors can also increase a person’s risk of developing pulmonary fibrosis, namely:
- Age factor. Most people who experience pulmonary fibrosis are between the ages of 50 and 70 years.
- Gender. Pulmonary fibrosis affects more men than women. However, cases in women have also increased in recent years.
- Smoking habit. The risk of pulmonary fibrosis for active smokers or people who have ever smoked is higher than for people who have never smoked.
- Hereditary factors. Pulmonary fibrosis can be genetic or run in families.
- Suffering from gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). Many experts think that GERD is related to the development of pulmonary fibrosis.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Treatment
Treatment for this condition will vary for each sufferer depending on the severity of the symptoms and the progression of the disease.
Because treatment will only focus on alleviating symptoms and improving the quality of life of sufferers.
Your doctor may recommend one or more treatments:
1. Administration of medication
Doctors may prescribe medications to slow the progression of pulmonary fibrosis.
There are several types of medications that doctors can prescribe for this condition. For example, the drugs pirfenidone and nintedanib can slow down lung scarring.
In addition, these drugs can also help maintain lung function.
2. Oxygen Therapy
Another treatment method that sufferers of this condition can undergo is oxygen therapy.
In the procedure, the doctor will provide oxygen for sufferers of this condition. The goal is to prevent the body from lacking oxygen while also improving sleep quality.
3. Pulmonary rehabilitation
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a procedure that aims for a number of things. Starting from training physical endurance to training breathing techniques so that lung performance is more optimal.
Thus, sufferers can perform daily tasks or activities.
4. Lung Transplant
Replacing one or both diseased lungs with healthy lungs from a donor.
This approach offers the potential to improve a person’s health and quality of life.
It’s important to note that a lung transplant is a major surgery, and not everyone is a candidate.
Can Pulmonary Fibrosis Be Cured?
To date, there is no treatment method that can truly cure this condition.
As a result, most pulmonary fibrosis treatments focus on relieving symptoms and improving the quality of life of the sufferer.
If the disease progresses and primary treatment does not produce results, the doctor will recommend end-of-life (palliative) care to the sufferer.
Palliative care is support and treatment to relieve the symptoms of people with certain conditions.
A person may choose to have palliative care at home or in a hospital.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Prevention
The best prevention effort for this condition is to avoid factors that can cause it, such as:
- Do not smoke and avoid exposure to cigarette smoke.
- Avoid environments with lots of pollutants.
- Be active and exercise regularly to make your lungs stronger, making it easier to breathe. However, if you are confused about when is the right time to exercise.
Pulmonary Fibrosis Complications
There are several complications that may occur if this condition is not treated immediately, as follows:
- Lung complications. As pulmonary fibrosis progresses, it can lead to complications, such as blood clots in the lungs, lung infections, or lung failure.
- Respiratory failure. This condition can occur due to severe lung disease. Especially when the oxygen levels in the lungs are at very low levels.
- Pulmonary hypertension. This problem can occur when scar tissue affects the blood vessels in the lungs and causes impaired blood flow.
- Right-sided heart failure or cor pulmonale. The cause of this condition is the lower right ventricle of the heart working too hard to pump blood through a blocked pulmonary artery.
- Lung cancer. Long-term conditions can also increase the risk of developing lung cancer.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can pulmonary fibrosis be cured?
Unfortunately, pulmonary fibrosis currently has no cure. This disease causes lung tissue to stiffen and form scar tissue that is impossible to restore to its original state.
However, proper treatment can help slow the progression of the disease, reduce symptoms, and improve the quality of life of sufferers.
2. Is pulmonary fibrosis contagious?
No, pulmonary fibrosis is not contagious. It is not caused by an infection, but by a variety of factors such as exposure to chemicals, viral infections, or autoimmune conditions.
3. Can TB cause fibrosis?
Yes, tuberculosis (TB) is one of the common causes of pulmonary fibrosis.
When someone experiences a TB infection, the immune system will try to fight the bacteria that cause TB.
The inflammatory process that occurs in an attempt to fight this infection can cause scar tissue to form in the lungs, which can then develop into fibrosis.
4. Can a collapsed lung heal?
Lung tissue that has been damaged by fibrosis cannot recover completely.
However, proper treatment can help slow further damage and preserve remaining lung function.
