Table 4.
Studies of the association between the numbers of fibroblast foci (FF) to the prognosis of IPF
| Study | Patients and method | Results |
|---|---|---|
| King et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001 |
87 IPF |
Granulation/connective tissue score i.e. FF was a significant predictor of survival in patients with IPF |
| Semiquantitative | ||
| Stainings: HE, pentachrome, Prussian blue and toluidine blue | ||
| Nicholson et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2002 |
53 IPF |
Mortality of the patients was linked to an increasing FF score, which associated also with greater declines in FVC and DLCO |
| Semiquantitative | ||
| Staining not described | ||
| Flaherty et al., Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2003 |
99 IPF and 9 with connective tissue disease (CTD-UIP) |
The profusion of FF associated with the survival of UIP in whole study material, but not in IPF |
| Semiquantitative |
The patients with IPF had higher profusion of FF than the patients with CTD-UIP |
|
| Staining not described |
||
| Tiitto et al., Thorax 2006 |
64 IPF and 12 CTD-UIP |
The number of FF correlated with the survival of the patients. The patients with ≤ 50 FF/cm2 had a median survival of 89 months compared with 49 months in those with >50 FF/cm2 |
| The total number of FF was counted in the area of which was defined by image analysis. The number of FF was divided into two subgroups (≤ 50 or >50 FF/cm2) | ||
| Stainings: AB-PAS and HE |
The number of FF was lower in CTD-UIP than in IPF |
|
| Enomoto et al., Chest 2006 |
53 IPF |
%FF score was a significant predictor of survival in IPF patients |
| Images of sections were studied by image analysis. %FF was calculated by dividing the area of FF by that of the target field. Overall %FF in each patient was defined as the average %FF > 10 selected cases | ||
| HE staining | ||
| Hanak et al., Respir Med 2008 |
43 IPF |
No significant relationship between FF profusion and survival |
| FF was counted by using a conventional point-counting technique. The number of points intersecting FF was expressed as a fraction of the total points counted on each slide and a mean value was calculated | ||
| Staining not described | ||
| Lee et al., Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis 2011 |
86 IPF |
FF score associated with survival |
| |
Semiquantitive |
|
| Staining not described |
Abbreviations:
AE-IPF acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
AB-PAS Alcian blues periodic acid Schiff.
COP cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.
CTD-ILD connective tissue associated interstitial lung disease.
DLCO diffusion capacity.
HE haematoxylin-eosin.
ILD interstitial lung disease.
ICU intensive care unit.
IPF idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
NSIP nonspecific interstitial pneumonia.
RBILD respiratory bronchiolitis and interstitial lung disease.
OLB surgical lung biopsy taken by thoracotomic surgical operation.
VATS surgical lung biopsy taken bb video-assisted thoracotomic surgical operation.