Position statement on lung cysts, cystic lung disease

The U.K. Cystic Lung Disease Rare Disease Collaborative Network issued a position statement in January about cystic lung disease diagnosis.

Simon Johnson, PhD, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Nottingham, and colleagues highlighted that "in many cases a multidisciplinary diagnosis can be made without the need for lung biopsy" but that in some instances tissue sampling may be necessary when noninvasive methods leave diagnostic doubt.

The position statement was prompted by rare cystic lung diseases increasingly recognized as a result of wider application of CT scanning. Johnson and colleagues acknowledged that cystic lung disease management is a growing part of respiratory care. Cystic lung diseases tend to have extrapulmonary features that can both be diagnostic but also require surveillance and treatment in their own right, the authors wrote. As some of these diseases now have specific treatments, making a precise diagnosis is crucial.

"We are seeing an increase in referrals, mostly due to the increase in use of CT, including lung cancer screening," Johnson told AuntMinnie.com via email. "We hope that the document will improve the workup and management of the increasing number of patients with cystic lung diseases."

Read the full statement in BMJ Thorax here.