ABSTRACT
The common lung diseases are few in number and mostly easily diagnosed – asthma, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, pleurisy, tuberculosis, pleural effusion (from whatever cause) and cancers. Many commonly used drugs, mainly medicinal but including drugs of abuse (heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine) occasionally cause serious lung disease. These include pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary oedema, pleural effusion, mediastinal widening, pulmonary infiltration and respiratory failure. These drug-induced lung diseases are usually diagnosed only after referral to a chest specialist, after treatments have failed, the symptoms and signs have persisted and the family doctor has become concerned. Every clinician knows that drugs such as amiodarone, methotrexate as a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD), anti-mitotics or systemic corticosteroids are essential and effective treatments for some disabling or life-threatening conditions, and that it may be difficult to find an adequate alternative.
