Table 1.

Revised and previous definitions and diagnostic criteria for AE-IPF.

Diagnosis of AE-IPF	Revised diagnosis	Previous diagnosis
Definition
	An acute, clinically significant, respiratory deterioration characterized by evidence of new widespread alveolar abnormalities	An acute, clinically significant, respiratory deteriorartion of unidentifiable cause
Diagnostic criteria
– Previous diagnosis	Previous or concurrent diagnosis of IPF	Previous or concurrent diagnosis of IPF
– Clinical presentation	Acute worsening or development of dyspnea typically of less than 1 month	Unexplained worsening or development of dyspnea within 30 days
– Computed tomography findings	New bilateral ground-glass opacity and/or consolidation superimposed on a background pattern consistent with usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern	New bilateral ground-glass abnormality and/or consolidation superimposed on a background reticular or honeycomb pattern consistent with UIP pattern
– Exclusion of differential diagnosis	Deterioration not fully explained by cardiac failure or fluid overload	Exclusion of alternative causes, including left heart failure, pulmonary embolism and an identifiable cause of acute lung injury
– Concomitant Infection		No evidence of pulmonary infection by endotracheal aspirate or bronchoalveolar lavage

AEIPF, acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.