Multidisciplinary teams in the clinical care of fibrotic interstitial lung disease: current perspectives

Abstract

Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings, involving the integrated collaboration of healthcare professionals, are increasingly used in clinical practice to inform the diagnosis and treatment of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Over time, the assessment of patients with ILD has transitioned from discussions among clinicians, radiologists and pathologists to the inclusion of a broader range of clinical data and specialist expertise. Studies have shown that a multidisciplinary approach can have many benefits for the clinical care of patients with ILD by improving the diagnostic confidence for different ILDs and guiding treatment decisions. The utility of MDT discussions for diagnosis, monitoring disease progression and management decisions, will need to be considered based on how it is best positioned in the diagnostic and therapeutic process, as well as the practicality and challenges of its use. There are also uncertainties and heterogeneity concerning the optimal practices of MDT meetings in ILD care. In this review, we describe recent developments refining the approach to MDTs in clinical practice, including who should be involved in the MDTs, when it is most needed, their use in patient management, challenges in their implementation, and ongoing controversies in the field that need further research.

Imaging Features of Autoimmune Disease-Related Interstitial Lung Diseases

“…Ideally, a review of imaging findings by an expert radiologist should be part of an MDT discussion of all information available on a patient with an autoimmune diseaserelated ILD. [60][61][62][63][64][65] A surgical lung biopsy is rarely required in patients with autoimmune disease-related ILDs found to have ILD on HRCT. MDT discussion of imaging findings is not only important for informing an initial diagnosis.…”

Virtual communication is commonly used in Finnish interstitial lung disease multidisciplinary meetings

“…In addition to diagnosis forming, ILD MDM has also been commonly utilized in planning of treatment strategies, e.g. drug management decisions [ 6 , 13 ]. According to a report by Teoh et al investigating the opinions of 117 ILD experts, treatment and management recommendations were regarded as highly desirable items in ILD MDM [ 9 ].…”

Interstitial Lung Disease Associated with Systemic Sclerosis

“…Available information is best integrated in multidisciplinary discussion, with pulmonologists, rheumatologists, radiologists, and pathologists, with expertise in ILD, and the possible contribution of other specialists such as nurse specialist, physiotherapist, respiratory physiologist. 121 Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine © 2024. Thieme.…”