2020/07/01 by Tananchai Petnak, Teng Moua · 1 citation
Medicine · #Interstitial Lung Diseases and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis #Inhalation and Respiratory Drug Delivery #Occupational exposure and asthma #Hypersensitivity pneumonitis #Medicine #Radiological weapon #Antigen #Intensive care medicine #Medical diagnosis #Disease #Inhalation #Immunology #Lung #Pathology #Internal medicine #Surgery #Psychiatry
paper · pdf · doi:10.1183/23120541.00230-2020
openalex publication_date 2020/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is an immune-mediated inflammatory lung disease characterised by the inhalation of environmental antigens leading to acute and chronic lung injury. Along with suggestive clinical and radiological findings, history and timing of suspected antigen exposure are important elements for diagnostic confidence. Unfortunately, many diagnoses remain tentative and based on vague and imprecise environmental or material exposure histories. To date, there has not been a comprehensive report highlighting the frequency and type of environmental exposure that might lead to or support a more systematic approach to antigen identification. We performed a comprehensive literature review to identify and classify causative antigens and their associated environmental contexts or source materials, with emphasis on the extent of the supportive literature for each exposure type. Eligible publications were those that reported unique inciting antigens and their respective environments or contexts. A clinical questionnaire was then proposed based on this review to better support diagnosis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis when antigen testing or other clinical and radiological variables are inconclusive or incomplete.