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The concept of end-stage lung disease suggests a final common pathway for most diffuse parenchymal lung diseases. In accordance with this concept, end-stage disease is characterized radiographically and pathologically by the presence of extensive honeycombing. However, sequential computed tomographic (CT) scans obtained from patients with chronic diffuse lung disease evolve over time to show various advanced lung disease patterns other than honeycombing. In addition, several radiographically distinct honeycomb patterns, including microcystic, macrocystic, mixed, and combined emphysema and honeycombing, differentiate one advanced lung disease from another. For example, usual interstitial pneumonia (IP) usually shows mixed microcystic and macrocystic honeycombing. In contrast, CT images of long-standing fibrotic nonspecific IP typically show only small, scattered foci of honeycombing; instead, most enlarged airspaces observed in the advanced stage of this disease represent dilatation of bronchioles. In desquamative IP and pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis, focal opacities typically evolve into emphysema-like lesions seen on CT imaging. In combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema and sarcoidosis, the cysts tend to be larger than those observed in usual IP. Sequential CT scans in other chronic, diffuse lung diseases also show various distinctive changes. This article highlights radiographic patterns of lung destruction that belie a single common pathway to end-stage lung disease. Recognition of distinct radiographic patterns of lung destruction can help differentiate diffuse parenchymal lung diseases, even in advanced stages of disease evolution.

Rationale: Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) has been implicated as a key cytokine in many inflammatory lung diseases. These effects are currently unclear, because a transgenic mouse overexpressing TNF-α in the lung has been shown in separate studies to produce elements of both emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. Objectives: We sought to elucidate the phenotypic effects of TNF-α overexpression in a mouse model. Measurements: We established the phenotype by measuring lung impedance and thoracic gas volume, and using micro–computed tomography and histology. Main Results: We found that airways resistance in this mouse was not different to control mice, but that lung tissue dampening, elastance, and hysteresivity were significantly elevated. Major heterogeneous abnormalities of the parenchyma were also apparent in histologic sections and in micro–computed tomography images of the lung. These changes included airspace enlargement, loss of small airspaces, increased collagen, and thickened pleural septa. We also found significant increases in lung and chest cavity volumes in the TNF-α–overexpressing mice. Conclusions: We conclude that TNF-α overexpression causes pathologic changes consistent with both emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis combined with a general lung inflammation, and consequently does not model any single human disease. Our study thus confirms the pleiotropic effects of TNF-α, which has been implicated in multiple inflammatory disorders, and underscores the necessity of using a wide range of investigative techniques to link gene expression and phenotype in animal models of disease.

In idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the quantitation of disease severity using pulmonary function tests is often confounded by emphysema. We have identified the composite physiologic index (CPI) most closely reflecting the morphologic extent of pulmonary fibrosis. Consecutive patients with a clinical/computed tomography (CT) diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (n = 212) were divided into group I (n = 106) and group II (n = 106). The CPI was derived in group I (by fitting pulmonary function tests against disease extent on CT) and was tested in Group II. The formula for the CPI was as follows: extent of disease on CT = 91.0 - (0.65 x percent predicted diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide [DLCO]) - (0.53 x percent predicted FVC) + (0.34 x percent predicted FEV1). In group II, the CPI correlated more strongly with disease extent on CT (r2 = 0.51) than the individual pulmonary function test (DLCO the highest value, r2 = 0.38). A subanalysis demonstrated that the better fit of the CPI was ascribable to a correction of the confounding effects of emphysema. Mortality was predicted more accurately by the CPI than by a pulmonary function test in all clinical subgroups, including a separate cohort of 36 patients with histologically proven usual interstitial pneumonia (CPI, p < 0.0005; FVC, p = 0.002; PO2, p = 0.002). In conclusion, a new CPI, derived against CT and validated using split sample testing, is a more accurate prognostic determinant in usual interstitial pneumonia than an individual pulmonary function test.