Panel discussion on acute exacerbations in ILD

Acute worsening of chronic lung disease is increasingly recognised as one of the main causes of disease progression, loss of health-related quality of life, and disease-associated mortality. While substantial progress has been made in the long-term management of most chronic lung diseases, our knowledge regarding causes, early identification, essential diagnostic procedures including biomarkers, and especially about disease-modifying treatments of acute worsening, is still in its infancy. Also, the definitions of acute worsening (so-called acute exacerbations) of different chronic lung conditions remain somewhat vague. For example, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an exacerbation of COPD is defined as an acute worsening of respiratory symptoms that results in additional therapy, a definition that nevertheless is good enough for medical decisions or as an end-point in trials. For idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), an acute exacerbation is defined as an acute, clinically significant, respiratory deterioration characterised by evidence of new widespread alveolar abnormality with a high mortality. Moreover, in ILD, the pathophysiology of acute exacerbations still remains unclear and treatments have not yet been established while some recent data shows detrimental outcomes with treatments such as cyclophosphamide. In this webinar, the current knowledge on acute exacerbations in ILD will be discussed. As infections may play a major role in these complications and many learnings have been achieved during the current pandemic, a discussion on the role of the microbiom in acute exacerbations of ILDs is highly needed. To round this up, a panel discussion with experts in the field will discuss current open questions for AE-ILDs.

Educational aims

The audience will learn about newest insights into acute exacerbations of interstitial lung diseases, the role of the microbiome in this regard and finally a panel discussion on open questions will help to identify gaps and future directions.

Format and topics

• Presentation 1: Acute exacerbations in ILD – M. Kreuter (20 min incl. discussion)
• Presentation 2: The role of the microbiome in AE-ILD – P. Molyneaux (20 min incl. discussion)
• Case-based round table discussion on AE-ILD – E. Bendstrup, M. Funke, T. Maher, M. Kreuter, M. Wijsenbeek (20 min)

Learning outcomes

Following this webinar, participants will be able to diagnose and treat acute exacerbations in ILDs and understand the role of the microbiome.

CME credit

An application for accreditation of this webinar has been made to the European Board for Accreditation in Pneumology (EBAP) for 1 CME credit per 1-hour attendance. If accredited, the CME credit will be granted upon attendance of at least 60 minutes during the live webinar only.

What is a webinar?

A webinar closely simulates a lecture-based teaching experience. The speaker can interact with the audience, just as in a classroom setting. During the webinar, you will be asked to share your opinion on issues related to the topic using interactive polls.

All participants will be able to hear the lecturer and see the slides throughout the presentation. As a participant you will be able to pose questions or discuss ideas with the other participants via the text chat facility and the speaker will respond to the questions via the microphone.

Login guidelines

More information will be communicated in due course.

• Please log in to the webinar 20 minutes before it is scheduled to commence. If you have any technical difficulties whilst trying to log in or during the session please contact e-learning@ersnet.org.
• Check Central European Summer Time.
• To achieve the best quality, we recommend to avoid downloading anything from the internet during your connection to the lecture and stopping all other programmes.
• Please also ensure that your audio settings are not set to mute and adjust the volume to a comfortable level.