[Analysis of the natural course of fibrosing alveolitides: from district therapist to specialized pulmonology unit].

Fibrosing alveolitides (FA) are common diseases, as yet insufficiently known to practitioners. In most cases, objective and subjective difficulties arise in diagnosing FA in the outpatient setting. The course of FA has been analyzed in 48 patients from their first visit to a polyclinic to admission to a specialized pulmonology unit. There is a high rate of outpatient diagnostic errors that may be accounted for by the similarity of many lung diseases, at their onset in particular, by small-scale studies and district therapists' little experience in working with patients with FA. The results of comprehensive examinations of patients with FA in a specialized clinic are given.