Interstitial lung abnormality

An interstitial lung abnormality (ILA) is an imaging descriptor often encapsulating several imaging patterns of increased lung density / attenuation detected on chest CT scans in patients with no prior or established history of interstitial lung disease.

Terminology

It is considered a relatively new and evolving term and encompasses a number of semiological characteristics associated with either fibrotic or non-fibrotic disease (many have associations with an early or mild forms of pulmonary fibrosis) .

A broad range of CT patterns may fall under this group inclusive of non-fibrotic (ground-glass opacification, areas of consolidation, mosaic attenuation) or fibrotic (ground glass with reticulation, pure reticulation, honeycombing) patterns .

See also