An 84-year-old man with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) responded well when treated only with Ofev, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, according to Pulmonary Fibrosis News.
The patient was diagnosed with IPF in June 2014, and he was admitted to a hospital in February 2016 with dry cough and hypoxemia (a low level of oxygen in the blood). He was diagnosed with an acute exacerbation of IPF once other possible causes were excluded.
His predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) was 92.8% at a regular visit in December 2015, and it had dropped to 77.8% when he was hospitalized. FVC measures how much air the patient can expel after taking a deep breath, and is used to detect and evaluate lung disease.
There was no evidence of lung infection or congestive heart failure, and the man was treated with 300 mg of Ofev per day without antibiotics or corticosteroids. He was released from the hospital 11 days later and continued to take Ofev without significant side effects. Within two months, his FVC reached 89.8%.
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