What are The Different Causes of Pulmonary Fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis is a serious lung disease impacting how you breathe and get oxygen into the blood. It means thickening and scarring of the tissues. There are several causes of pulmonary fibrosis as well as unknown causes, called idiopathic. 

It is difficult for doctors to figure out what causes PF. Sometimes they can identify one or more causes of the disease. The main identifiable causes of Pulmonary fibrosis are drug-induced, radiation-induced, environmental, autoimmune and occupational. Pulmonary Fibrosis is not just one disease it is a family of more than 200 different lung disease that all look very much alike. The PF family of lung diseases fall into an even larger group of diseases called interstitial lung disease. Let's discuss some of the causes of Pulmonary fibrosis in this article.

1: Environmental causes – It is important to consider that exposure to things in the environment or workplace can contribute to pulmonary fibrosis, like cigarette smoking that contains many chemicals that can damage your lungs and lead to today’s condition. Many other things can also damage your lungs that include, asbestos fibres, grain dust, silica dust,  certain gases, radiation. 

2: Medication – Some medications also cause pulmonary fibrosis. Among them are drugs used to treat cancer like chemotherapy, drugs used to treat abnormal heart rhythms like amiodarone, some medications used to treat inflammatory conditions such as methotrexate, an antibiotic used to treat urinary tract infection, these are some of the better knowns that can cause injury, Inflammation and scarring in the lungs.

3: Autoimmune Diseases – Autoimmune immune means self immune system. if you have an autoimmune disease affecting your lungs, it means that your body immune system is affecting the lungs. Autoimmune diseases are also called connective tissue diseases, collagen vascular diseases, or rheumatologic diseases. Some of the examples of autoimmune diseases that cause PF are Rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and many others.

4: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – In some people, chronic pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis develop without any identifiable cause. Most of these people have a condition called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis that does not respond to medical therapy. Some form of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis runs in families, and heredity may play a role in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

5: Radiation treatment – Some people who receive radiation during the treatment of lung and breast cancer show signs of lung damage sometimes a year after the initial treatment. The severity of the damage may depend on the presence of underlying lung diseases, whether chemotherapy is also done, and how much of the lungs were exposed to radiation.