IPF Guidelines Updated With New Recs for Rx Therapy

Updated guidelines on the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by the American Thoracic Society, the European Respiratory Society, the Japanese Respiratory Society, and the Latin American Thoracic Association have been published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The following recommendations are new or revised from the 2011 guidelines:

Recommendation against the use of the following agents for the treatment of IPF (strong recommendation):

• Warfarin
• Imatinib
• Combination prednisone, azathioprine, and N-acetylcysteine
• Ambrisentan

Recommendation for the use of the following agents for the treatment of IPF (conditional recommendation):

• Nintedanib
• Pirfenidone

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Recommendation against the use of the following agents for the treatment of IPF (conditional recommendation):

• Sildenafil
• Macitentan
• Bosentan

Recommendations are unchanged from the 2011 guidelines on conditional recommendations against the use of N-acetylcysteine monotherapy and for the use of antacid therapy.

The updated guidelines do not recommend one treatment regimen over another and all recommendations must be weighed individually for each patient, stated Ganesh Raghu, MD, chair of the committee that produced the guidelines.

For more information visit Thoracic.org.