CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Canadian scientists say they have found a new method that can predict mortality in patients suffering idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
IPF is a disease that slowly petrifies the lungs, with most patients living only three years after diagnosis on average.
"There is no effective treatment (for IPF) and many patients, if eligible, are referred for lung transplantation," said Dr. Charlene Fell at the University of Calgary's division of respiratory medicine. "Identification of surrogate short-term measures of mortality is critical to the management and study of patients with IPF."
She said she and her colleagues discovered that maximal oxygen uptake during exercise, or VO2max, can predict mortality in IPF patients. VO2max is an integrated measure of cardiovascular, respiratory and neuromuscular function and is a standard measure during cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
The study is reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
