[The influence of pathological diagnosis on outcome in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis].

The definitive diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) requires a pathologic pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). However, it is not clear that whether there is a difference in outcome between patients with IPF diagnosed by clinical findings, and those diagnosed by pathological findings. We investigated differences in survival between patients diagnosed with IPF based on clinical findings, and patients who underwent surgical biopsy for a pathological diagnosis of IPF/UIP based on findings showing a UIP pattern.