Childhood interstitial lung diseases: current understanding of the classification and imaging findings

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Radiology
• Rare Diseases

Background:

• Childhood interstitial lung diseases (chILDs) are a group of severe respiratory disorders with high mortality.
• Existing adult interstitial lung disease (ILD) classifications are inadequate for chILDs, especially early-onset cases.
• New chILD classification systems have been developed for infants and older children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and overview the imaging findings of chILDs.
• To correlate imaging findings with the proposed chILD classifications.
• To highlight differences between infantile and pediatric ILD manifestations.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of imaging findings in chILDs.
• Analysis of imaging features based on age-specific chILD classifications.
• Comparison of infantile and pediatric ILD presentations.

Main Results:

• Infantile ILDs exhibit distinct clinical, radiological, and molecular characteristics.
• Pediatric ILDs often present with manifestations overlapping those seen in adult ILDs.
• Imaging findings are presented according to the new chILD classification systems.

Conclusions:

• Age-specific classification is crucial for understanding chILDs.
• Imaging plays a key role in diagnosing and characterizing chILDs.
• Recognizing unique infantile ILD features is essential for accurate diagnosis and management.