This is a disease which causes scarring of the lungs where the air sacs are replaced with fibrotic tissue. The tissues thicken and loose their ability to convey oxygen to the blood and the person suffers from breathlessness especially after exertion with a dry cough which is chronic. There is also a lot of discomfort in the chest with tiredness and fatigue and a severe deficiency of appetite which causes rapid loss of weight.

There are several probable causes for this disease which could be because of an autoimmune disorder, infections which are viral or because of inhaling the pollutants in the environment, smoking cigarettes, therapeutic radiation, and some types of medications or diseases like Lupus, Scleroderma and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Treatments:

The cures or treatments for pulmonary fibrosis are not very effective as the cause is still not very clear. The treatments have had only a limited amount of success in bringing down the progress of the fibrosis. As the disease is not understood completely often the diagnosis is not proper and the only way to give the patient a certain amount of comfort and longevity is with supplemental oxygen. Until a cure is found with all the research that is going on, this is the only way to help people to live a less agonizing life. The scarring is permanent and the only way to get rid of the scarred tissue is to have a lung transplant.