Health Professional Podcasts and Webinars

This webinar by Dr John Mackintosh, Respiratory and Lung Transplant Physician at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane. provides an insight into ILAs, which are often found during an investigation or scan of the chest or lungs. The webinar provides information to help support you through a finding of an ILA, including what these early signs may mean and how best to monitor ILAs over time.    

ILAs are subtle radiological findings on chest CT scans, such as ground-glass opacities, reticulation, or honeycombing, that may suggest early interstitial lung disease (ILD) or pulmonary fibrosis. ILAs often appear incidentally and typically lack symptoms or lung function abnormalities. Differentiating ILAs from ILDs involves assessing symptoms, lung physiology, and imaging progression. ILDs often present with breathlessness, persistent cough, and declining lung function, whereas ILAs remain stable or are explained by other conditions. Importantly, lung biopsies are not required for diagnosis. With growing clinical interest, understanding ILAs is vital for early detection, monitoring, and preventing progression to fibrotic lung disease. 

ILAs are often detected during lung cancer screening but may also appear in individuals with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, or Sjögren’s syndrome. These groups show a higher prevalence of ILD, even without symptoms or abnormal lung function. Minor interstitial changes found on CT scans may progress, requiring ongoing monitoring. Early detection and tailored follow-up are essential for managing potential lung disease progression. 

In summary, ILAs are common. Approximately five to 10% of people over the age of 50 will have an ILA on a CT scan. You’re not alone if your CT reports an ILA. Most ILAs don’t progress to a disease but do need to be monitored. Importantly, some ILAs do represent early ILD like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and do give us an opportunity to potentially start treatment earlier than otherwise would be possible if we waited for the development of symptoms. 

Listen to the webinar here.

In this Healthed lecture, A/Prof Nicole Goh discusses the current state of play of the screening program and the likelihood of detecting non-lung cancer abnormalities. Importantly, she also presents the recommended management of the different incidental findings in the lung or in the surrounding organs or tissues – whether to leave them, monitor them or treat them.

The content of this education program was independently developed by HEALTHED and based on the presenter’s opinions. Funding was provided by Boehringer Ingelheim.

The NLCSP – Incidental chest findings – What now?

In this episode:

• Always perform chest auscultation for respiratory complaints – the presence of lung crackles is a red flag for interstitial lung disease (ILD) requiring further investigation
• Refer early to respiratory specialists once ILD is suspected, to prevent permanent lung damage
• Partner with specialists managing ILD patients to monitor medication side effects, optimise vaccinations, and coordinate multidisciplinary care
• Advise patients on preventive measures, including smoking cessation, proper protection during DIY projects, and infection prevention

Experts: A/Prof Yet Hong Khor, Respiratory and Sleep Physician

Host: Dr David Lim, GP and Medical Educator

Total time: 30 mins

Interstitial lung disease management

In this Out of the Blue AJRCCM Podcast, Dr. Mohleen Kang chats with Dr. Kerri Johannson and Dr. Tamera Corte about their article, “Impact of Environmental Exposures on the Development and Progression of Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease.”

Impact of Environmental Exposures on the Development and Progression of Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease

19 March 2025: In this podcast, Associate Professor Nicole Goh outlines the key features of pulmonary fibrosis from presenting and distinguishing signs, testing, and diagnosis to the latest evidence-based treatments.

She also provides an update on the current prognosis and natural history of pulmonary fibrosis as well as the GP’s role in managing  patients with this not uncommon condition.

Detection, assessment and management of pulmonary fibrosis

13 September 2024: In this Out of the Blue AJRCCM Podcast John Fleetham chats with Dr. Chris Ryerson and Dr. Yet Khor about their article, Epidemiology and Prognostic Significance of Cough in Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease.

Epidemiology and Prognostic Significance of Cough in Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease Podcast

To mark Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, Lung Foundation Australia is hosted this webinar for health care professionals.

Speakers:
Dr John Mackintosh, The Prince Charles Hospital
Sarah Watson, Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic Nurse, Qld Lung Transplant Service Angelica Maye Bariuan, Respiratory CNC, Hospital in the Home, Western Sydney Local Health District.

While pulmonary fibrosis is considered rare in Australia, disease burden is significant, and prevalence is increasing year by year. Detection and diagnosis can be complex, particularly as signs and symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis mirror numerous other respiratory and cardiac conditions.

Early and accurate diagnosis and referral is a critical step in optimising patient outcomes in this progressive disease. While there is no cure for PF, there are various evidence-based treatment options and management strategies to help slow or stop progression and manage symptoms.

You will need to provide your name and email address to access this recording

Register and view here.

11 November 2022: This webinar educated health professionals about a Randomised, Embedded, Multifactorial, Adaptive, Platform (REMAP) trial design for interstitial lung disease (ILD). Learn from an international expert about this project with the potential to change the landscape of clinical trials and the lives of people living with pulmonary fibrosis. 

Chair: Prof Tamera Corte 

Presenter: Prof Gisli Jenkins is an NIHR Research Professor and is Head of the Margaret Turner-Warwick Centre for Fibrosing Lung Diseases at the National Heart and Lung Institute. Prof Jenkins’ research focuses on Interstitial Lung Diseases, and Pulmonary Fibrosis in particular. His team works to understand the biological basis for the development of pulmonary fibrosis and aims to translate this understanding in to improved outcomes for patients. He is the Principal Investigator of a number of longitudinal observational studies including the PROFILE study, the INJUSTIS Study, the UKILD Post COVID ILD study as well as the DEMISTIFI Multi-Morbidity consortium. Prof Jenkins was awarded the ERS Gold Medal in Interstitial Lung Disease in 2020. In 2022 he became a Fellow of the European Respiratory Society, and appointed President of Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis. 

View here.

16 September 2022: This webinar educated health professionals about pragmatic clinical trials and registry/electronic medical record-based studies. Learn from an international expert about testing treatments in the real world and harnessing the power of real world data. 

Chair: A/Prof Ian Glaspole 

Presenter: Prof David Price is a Primary Care Respiratory Society Professor of Primary Care Respiratory Medicine at the University of Aberdeen and Managing Director of Optimum Patient Care Global, Australia, and UK. He has authored over 888 peer-reviewed publications since 2000 with a H-index of 99 and is responsible for approximately US$75 million in research and clinical development grants. David’s work focuses on pragmatic clinical trials, real-life databases research, disease registries and quality improvement in primary and secondary care in conditions such as ILD, severe asthma and COPD, where he is an acknowledged global authority.

View here. 

3 June 2022 : This free allowed health professionals to catch up on the latest in clinical research in pulmonary fibrosis from the May 2022 ATS conference.   

Chair:  Prof Dan Chambers 

Presenter:  A/Prof Yet Khor is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at Monash University, a physician at the Austin and Alfred Health Interstitial Lung Disease Services, and the Oxygen Service Lead at Austin Health. Her main research interests include risk prediction and disease burden management in interstitial lung disease.  

View here. 

9 September 2021: This webinar educated health professionals about the science and strategy of implementation in the context of clinical trials, including insights on planning for future implementation. Implementation is increasingly a focus of funding schemes, meaning that it’s a useful topic for clinical trialists and/or clinician-researchers in pulmonary fibrosis to upskill on! 

Chair: Prof Anne Holland 

Presenter: Prof Natasha A. Lannin (PhD, BSc, GCIS, FAOTA, FOTARA), Professor (Research), Department of Neuroscience, Monash University; and Clinical Chair (Research) – Occupational Therapy, Alfred Health. Prof Lannin is a clinical trialist with an extensive research track record in rehabilitation. Working within the Department of Neuroscience at Monash University, she conducts randomised trials investigating the effects of rehabilitation interventions and hybrid implementation studies investigating the translation of trial evidence into clinical practice. 

View here.

11 June 2021: This webinar caught health professionals up on the latest in clinical research in pulmonary fibrosis from the May 2021 ATS conference. The 2021 ATS was a virtual event and with the time difference between Australia-New Zealand and the USA, joining sessions live was a challenge! 

Chair: A/Prof Tamera Corte 

Presenter: A/Prof Ian Glaspole is the head of the Alfred Hospital interstitial lung disease clinic and an adjunct clinical associate professor within the Monash University Faculty of Medicine. His research focuses on interstitial lung disease, and has included numerous clinical trials exploring treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, along with other clinical and laboratory based research, principally focused on improving the symptoms and quality of life of sufferers of these rare lung diseases. 

View here.

30 March 2021: This webinar caught health professionals up on the latest in drug development and clinical trials in pulmonary fibrosis. 

It is so heartening to be able to speak optimistically about the future when we see our patients with IPF and other interstitial lung disease in the clinic. Not only do we have two approved drugs, but there are multiple potential breakthrough treatments in clinical development right now, many of them in late phase clinical trials. 

Chair: Prof Margaret Wilsher 

Presenters: Prof Glen Westall is a Consultant Chest Physician, and Head of the Paediatric Lung Transplant Program at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. He trained at King’s College, London; the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne and Royal Brompton Hospital, London. Glen oversees the basic scientific research portfolios of the Alfred’s lung transplant and lung fibrosis service. As an academic clinician, he has established a number of translational projects with industry partners that have taken discoveries in basic science to the clinical interface. In particular he has established biorepositories that collect and store both normal lung tissue and fibrotic lungs. 

Prof Dan Chambers is a thoracic and transplant physician with special interests in immunology and interstitial lung disease. Dan’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of lung fibrosis, new diagnostic methods and biomarkers, and therapeutic discovery. His research has been supported by > $15 million in competitive grant funding and he has authored more than 100 research papers. He has been a Principal Investigator for numerous clinical trials of all phases in interstitial and other lung diseases including IPF. Dan is Chair of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Australasian Clinical Trials Network (PACT). 

View here.