PATIENT INFORMATION
To provide comprehensive, state of
the art care for patients with interstitial lung diseases (lung
fibrosis).
To perform research to further understand the causes of and improve
treatments for interstitial lung disease.
To provide access for our patients to participate in clinical
trials of new treatments.
A team approach to state of the
art care:
-The focus of the UCSF ILD Center of Excellence is to formulate
an individualized plan for the evaluation and treatment for each
patient.
-We establish each patient’s care plan by performing a comprehensive
review of patients’ histories and a careful analysis of diagnostic
studies. This information is reviewed by a team of lung doctors,
chest radiologists, and pathologists (the doctors who examine
lung biopsies). This means each patient can benefit from the experience
and expertise of multiple doctors.
Providers:
State of the art testing:
UCSF Medical Center Scheduling: 415-353-2573
Pulmonary
Function LaboratoryNew drug trials:
We can provide patients the opportunity to participate in studies
to test new medications.
[Link to summary of each study available. -- TO BE POSTED SOON]
Lung Transplantation evaluation:
Lung
Transplant Website
Referral for thoracic surgery
(lung biopsy)
Our clinical coordinator, Sharon Gandhi,
will be happy to help you make an appointment or answer your questions
about the clinic. Please call (415) 353-2606.
Materials should be sent to:
ILD Center of Excellence
ATTN: Sharon Gandhi, Clinical Coordinator
Chest Clinic, 5th Floor Ambulatory Care Center
400 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143
How can you get an appointment in our clinic?
[LINK TO ‘HOW CAN PATIENTS BE REFERRED
TO OUR CLINIC?]
What should you do before you come for an appointment in our clinic?
[LINK TO REQUIREMENTS UNDER PROVIDER
INFORMATION]
on the 5th
floor of the UCSF Ambulatory Care Clinic Building:
http://www.ucsf.edu/campuses/direction.html
http://www.ucsf.edu/campuses/maps/index.html
[LINK TO INFORMATION FOR PROVIDERS]
PROVIDER
INFORMATION
Primary goal:
- To provide comprehensive state
of the art patient care for patients with interstitial lung
disease.
- Given our focus, we see patients
with a variety of pulmonary diseases as shown:
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All idiopathic interstitial pneumonias
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Sarcoidosis
Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP)
Eosinophilic lung diseases
Cystic lung diseases (excluding emphysema)
Lung disease due to rheumatologic disorders or drug toxicity
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- We also see many patients in whom
the diagnosis is unclear.
- Our care includes an extensive
review of the history, analysis of diagnostic studies with a
multidisciplinary team of pulmonologists, pathologists, and
radiologists, patient education, development of an individualized
plan of treatment for each patient, and discussions of end of
life decisions when appropriate.
Secondary goals:
- To conduct research into the
causes, and management of fibrotic (or interstitial) lung disease
using both clinical and basic research approaches.
Participation in our research is on a voluntary basis for all
patients.
- To provide patients the opportunity
to participate in clinical trials of new therapies.
- We take a multidisciplinary
approach to diagnosis and
management.
- We believe that communication
between pulmonologists, radiologists, and pathologists is
essential to providing the best possible patient care.
- Patients’ data can be reviewed
by all of these experts who meet on a weekly basis for the
purpose of discussing clinical cases.
- Other services
we provide include:
- Participation in national
clinical drug trials
- Lung Transplantation evaluation
- Referral for thoracic surgery
- Pulmonary physiologic testing
- Radiologic evaluations
- Patients must be referred to our
clinic by a pulmonologist.
- Appointments can be made through
our clinical coordinator, Sharon Gandhi at
415-353-2606.
- After an appointment is scheduled,
an information packet will be mailed to patients to indicate
what needs to occur prior to the visit.
- Information can be mailed or faxed
by patients or their physicians, days to weeks prior to the
appointment, or hand carried to the clinic to ensure the availability
of the information.
- Complete data minimizes inconvenience
for the patient and the repetition of diagnostic studies.
Please facilitate the patients’
compilation of the following materials:
- Clinical records –
clinic visits and hospitalizations
- Referring physician information
– telephone and fax numbers, and mailing address
- Chest X-rays –
current and past films to enable comparisons
- Chest CT scans –
current and prior studies to enable comparisons (if possible
we would prefer copies of radiographs on film or CD so that
we can retain at our center for patient care and, if permission
granted, for research purposes)
- Laboratory studies
– all blood tests, serologies, microbiologic cultures
- Pulmonary function tests
– all current and prior results of PFTs and spirometry
- Bronchoscopy reports
- results of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and biopsies
- Lung biopsy tissues slides
and report: if possible we would prefer that the pathology
department send several slides that we can retain at our
center for patient care and, if permission granted, for
research purposes)
- Echocardiograms - all
reports
- Ventilation-Perfusion
(V/Q) scans
- original films and reports
We may perform additional studies
at the UCSF ILD Clinic in consultation with the patient and referring
physicians, often on the day of the visit. Additional procedures
such as bronchoscopies and lung biopsies can be pre-arranged or
performed on a timely basis to minimize travel inconvenience for
patients.
Materials should be sent to:
ILD Center of Excellence
ATTN: Sharon Gandhi, Clinical Coordinator
Chest Clinic, 5th Floor Ambulatory Care Center
400 Parnassus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94143
Identification of the causes of fibrotic
lung diseases has been difficult because of the slow progression
of fibrosis, the tendency for patients to present at an advanced
stage of the illness, and the lack of an experimental animal model
that closely mimics human lung fibrosis. Lung diseases that progress
slowly often elude detection because the initial symptoms are
minor and many patients attribute them to other illnesses or aging.
Therefore, fibrosis is often advanced at the time of initial clinical
evaluation, hindering investigations of early triggers of the
disease. Lung fibrosis has many (>200) different causes, making
it difficult to perform clinical studies, which require large
numbers of patients. Research on respiratory illnesses is often
based upon studies using animals that naturally or experimentally
demonstrate findings similar to the human disease. The search
for an animal model that better mimics idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
(IPF) remains a prime objective.
To overcome these obstacles, physicians
at the UCSF ILD Center of Excellence have been applying new clinical
and laboratory methodologies to identify the cause of lung fibrosis.
This is a collaborative effort among patients, clinicians, and
scientists who collectively address the problem using multiple
different scientific approaches. The spectrum of our research
includes analysis of lung tissues and fluids to identify molecules
possibly involved in fibrosis. Animal models are employed to identify
the cellular interactions and molecular pathways which direct
lung tissue repair and fibrosis. Our patients may participate
in research by enrolling in studies that evaluate the efficacy
and safety of experimental treatments or contribute biological
specimens that can be used for scientific analysis. Funding for
this research comes from a variety of sources including the National
Institutes of Health, the American Lung Association, and other
private sources.
http://noairtogo.tripod.com/ild.htm#Facts
http://www.pulmonaryfibrosisassn.com/
http://www.vh.org/Providers/Textbooks/DiffuseLung/Text/IPF.html
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