Treatment with nintedanib for acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

There is currently no effective treatment for acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We herein report the case of a patient with acute exacerbation of IPF which was treated with nintedanib, an intracellular inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, and showed improvement of the condition. An 84-year-old man with IPF was admitted to our hospital because of dry cough and worsening of dyspnoea within last 1 month. He presented with hypoxemia, and chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) revealed new, bilateral multifocal ground-glass opacities superimposed on the background of lung fibrosis. After exclusion of alternative causes, acute exacerbation of IPF was diagnosed and we started treatment with nintedanib of 300 mg/day. This resulted in the gradual improvement of his condition and HRCT findings without administering antibiotics or corticosteroids. Serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 and surfactant protein D levels increased at acute exacerbation and subsequently decreased. This case suggests that nintedanib therapy may have possible benefits in acute exacerbation of IPF.