Interstitial Lung Disease (chILD) Program

Children's Hospital Colorado Children’s Interstitial Lung Disease (chILD) Program is one of the leading referral centers in the world for children with these rare lung conditions. Research in our hospital and in collaboration with other pediatric ILD centers around the country has led to the recognition and understanding of many new chILD disorders.

One of the most important and challenging aspects of chILD is to get the correct diagnosis through sometimes necessary testing. Our center is world renowned for our diagnostic ability and testing facilities, and provides consultation to patients and health care providers around the world.

Why choose Children’s Colorado for the treatment of this condition?

Our physicians are leaders in the National chILD Research Collaborative, which consists of pediatric lung, pathology and radiology specialists in North America who are committed to improving care for children with these conditions. The Children's Colorado chILD Program has advanced testing programs in ILD for children related to CT scans, infant pulmonary function testing, bronchoscopy (.pdf) and lung biopsies, when needed. Our physicians have grants to study and find new treatments and cures for chILD.

Our multidisciplinary care team of pediatric lung specialists, pathologists, radiologists, nutritionists, social workers and nurse specialists brings a wide range of experience and expertise. Our goal is to create the most individualized ILD care plan possible for your child and family. Multidisciplinary care is critical to meet the needs of patients with these complex conditions.

We also provide resources for healthcare professionals who diagnose and treat chILD.

Specific conditions we treat

The Children's Colorado chILD Program provides care for a broad range of lung disorders including:

• Disorders more prevalent in infancy, like surfactant disorders
• Disorders associated with a normal immune system and response to infections 
• Disorders related to body-wide processes
• Disorders associated with a weakened immune system like opportunistic infections
• Disorders that resemble interstitial disease

Disorders more common in infancy

• Diffuse developmental (abnormal lung formation) disorders 
• Growth Abnormalities 
• Specific conditions of unknown or poorly understood origin
  The reasons that these conditions develop are currently unknown, but they have quite specific diagnostic criteria:
• Surfactant Dysfunction Mutations and Related Abnormalities
  Some of these disorders are more specific to infancy, while others have also been identified in older children and adults. 

Disorders associated with a normal immune system

• Infectious and post-infectious processes 
• Disorders related to environmental agents, including hypersensitivity pneumonia (caused by exposure to toxic particles like bird feces or hot tubs)
• Toxic Inhalation
• Aspiration syndromes
• Eosinophilic pneumonias
• Acute interstitial pneumonia/Hamman-Rich syndrome/Idiopathic diffuse alveolar damage
• Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia
• Idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (bleeding in the lung)

Disorders related to body-wide processes

• Storage Disease
• Sarcoidosis
• Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis
• Malignant Infiltrates
• Immune-mediated Disorders

Disorders associated with a weakened immune system

• Opportunistic infections
• Disorders related to therapies like radiation and chemotherapy
• Disorders related to solid organ, lung and bone marrow transplantation and rejection syndromes 
• Diffuse Alveolar Damage (DAD) of undetermined cause
• Lymphoid infiltrates related to immune compromise (for non-transplanted patients) 

Disorders that resemble interstitial disease

• Arterial hypertensive vasculopathy
• Congestive vasculopathy including veno-occlusive disease
• Lymphatic disorders, including lymphangiectasis and lymphangiomatosis
• Pulmonary edema
• Thromboembolic

Services offered

Our advanced medical equipment and state-of-the art hospital provide for diagnostic tests including:

• Infant pulmonary function testing (.pdf)
• Bronchoscopy (.pdf)
• Advanced CT scan protocols that limit radiation
• Combined procedures to reduce anesthesia exposures
• New blood tests to understand the disease and treatments
• Chest imaging (high-resolution CT scan)
• Lung biopsies done by one of the most experienced teams in the country

Many different types of medications may be used to treat chILD. These medications are frequently delivered by a device to deposit the medication in your lungs.