• Ida Pesonen, Cristian Ortiz, and Giovanni Ferrara.
• Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Section of Respiratory Disease and Allergy, B4:09, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. ida.pesonen@ki.se.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 Mar 14; 55 (3).

AbstractA 39 years old African man presented with fatigue, loss of weight and night sweats; radiology showed a possible usual interstitial pneumonia pattern. The patient missed follow-up visits, and presented again after 3 years with productive cough and general illness. Pulmonary function tests showed a decline of FVC compared to a previous investigation. The CT scans showed progression of the interstitial lung disease, and a multidisciplinary conference recommended to proceed with a surgical lung biopsy. Histopathology showed an atypical pattern, with bronchiolar metaplasia. A new multidisciplinary conference made a diagnosis of IPF, and the patient was treated with antifibrotic drugs with a good effect, reaching stability of lung function. This case report highlights the need to improve knowledge and to better characterize rare pulmonary diseases, and especially IPF, among African patients.

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