Drug-induced lung diseases in the intensive care unit

Abstract

The diagnosis of drug-induced lung disease (DILD) is a diagnosis of exclusion based on chronological and semiological criteria (intrinsic accountability) as well as bibliographic criteria (extrinsic accountability). In the intensive care unit, DILD incidence is difficult to assess because of the difficulty in obtaining a definitive diagnosis. In case of severe bilateral pneumonia and after ruling out the most common etiologies (infectious and cardiogenic pulmonary edema), DILD should be systematically suspected as involved in about 10% of acute respiratory distress syndromes (ARDS). Out of the 400 drugs known as “pneumotoxic” and mentioned on pneumotox.com website, about one hundred (including amiodarone, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies) has been described as able to result in ARDS.