Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Lung Biology in Health and Disease, Volume 185 Joseph P. Lynch III, ed. New York, NY: Marcel Dekker, 2004; 800 pp; $235.00

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis remains one of the most perplexing of pulmonary diseases. Overall, the prognosis is poor, available treatment remains ineffectual, and little is understood of its pathogenesis. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in research on the inflammatory processes of the lung, and we now recognize that idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a distinct clinical entity defined by the histologic pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia. It is hoped that new therapeutic interventions and effective drags will he based on these advances.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a recent addition to the Lung Biology, in Health and Disease series and edited by Joseph P. Lynch III, gives a comprehensive account of this vexing disease. The text is divided into three major sections, which lead the reader logically through epidemiology and clinical presentation, then on to pathogenesis and disease mechanisms, and finally to current and future therapies. The authors of the 28 chapters include renowned names in their field from the Americas, Europe, and Japan, thus enriching the text by providing geographically varied experience; editor Lynch also co-authored three chapters. Each chapter of the text can be read independently and gives a state-of the-art account of the particular subject discussed.

The chapters on clinical features cover the differential diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in great detail, thus malting it easier to understand some of complexities and controversies associated with this condition. In this respect, I especially admired the chapters on nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis in connective tissue disease. The chapter on imaging gives a detailed account of high-resolution CT scanning techniques, a modality that is quite useful to the clinician, and the included CT images are reasonably well reproduced. There is some repetition and overlap between various chapters, particularly with respect to imaging, physiology, and disease definition, but I suppose this is inevitable in a multiauthored book. I would have liked to see the slides in the chapter on pathology of usual interstitial pneumonia reproduced in color rather than black and white, as that would have illustrated the findings more graphically for the clinician.