There are no data available about characteristics of IIP patients, specifically IPF patients, living in Switzerland. Hence, we want to establish a meticulously characterized cohort of IIP patients in Switzerland to allow high quality research on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and complications of IIP.
Not only all adult patients with IIP, but also all patients treated with anti-fibrotic agents and patients discussed in the multidisciplinary board will be included in the study. These ILD patients will serve as a comparison group.
The study design is a cross sectional and observational cohort study. We will sample biological material and collect health-related personal data. The data will be encoded.
Patient data will be retrospectively and prospectively collected from their records and entered into a database from ISPM. Data regarding symptoms, diagnosis, laboratory changes and lung functional course as well as treatment will be described.
We will evaluate the individual treatment response by comparing clinical behavior.
We will collect retrospectively and prospectively baseline chest CT, lung function parameters, clinical signs, blood and demographic data of patients.
Samples will be stored at the centralized biobank for biofluids in Bern (BioBank Services -BBS): http://www.zlm.insel.ch/de/biobank-services-bbs/ or at local biobanks at other centers.
Quality control is provided by CTU (Clinical Trial Unit, Bern) to ensure that the conduct of the study matches the protocol. http://www.ctu.unibe.ch/index_eng.html