Restrictive Lung Diseases
The restrictive lung diseases encompass a diverse group of conditions that cause diffuse parenchymal damage. The physiologic consequences of this damage include a reduction in total lung volume, diffusion capacity, and vital capacity. Occasionally, patients without parenchymal involvement who have diseases of the chest wall, respiratory muscles, pleura, or spine may have similarly restricted lung volumes. A fibrotic parenchymal response can result from occupational exposure to various substances, including asbestos, silica dust, graphite, talc, coal, and tungsten. A granulomatous hypersensitivity reaction can develop in response to moldy hay, grains, birds, humidifiers, and cooling systems. Endogenous pulmonary disease can result from collagen vascular diseases, sarcoidosis, eosinophilic granuloma, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener granulomatosis), Goodpasture syndrome, alveolar proteinosis, idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and other idiopathic parenchymal diseases. Therapeutic agents such as phenytoin, penicillin, gold, methotrexate, and radiation can also cause pulmonary disease.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 1 - Update on General Medicine. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.