Metfora Diagnostics

🫁 Asthma: When Misdiagnosis Does Real Harm Asthma impacts millions worldwide. Yet diagnosis often fails. Here’s the reality: 📍 35% of diagnosed cases lack test confirmation 📍 Half of true cases remain undiagnosed for years 📍 Wrong diagnoses delay real treatment 📍 Unnecessary drugs bring long-term risks 📍 Missed asthma can lead to severe, preventable attacks Asthma symptoms overlap with those of COPD, anxiety, and heart disease. Yet spirometry and objective tests remain underused. The cost? Side effects when asthma isn’t real. Dangerous attacks when asthma is missed. The system leans on symptoms, not science. The system is incomplete, and incomplete has flaws. #Asthma #Diagnosis #Pulmonology #LungHealth #MedicalResearch #Healthcare

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) scars the lungs.
But once ILD is found, another danger emerges.
Lung cancer. This is what usually happens: 📍 ILD itself is hard to diagnose early. 📍 Once detected, focus is on scarring. But doctors need to be on alert to what else may be lurking. 📍 Scarring can hide cancer on scans. 📍 In scarred lungs, even testing becomes a threat. 📍 Yet up to 1 in 5 ILD patients develop cancer. The problem? Care waits for cancer to surface. But ILD means cancer could already be in the lungs. #ILD #LungCancer #PulmonaryFibrosis #LungHealth #EarlyDetection #ClinicalCare #RespiratoryMedicine #Oncology #MedicalStandardsv

🫁 Lung Biopsy in ILD: Necessary, But Unclear Diagnosis drives everything. It shapes treatment. It sets expectations. It can mean life or decline. That’s why biopsy matters when scans fall short. What’s used today: 📍 Surgical biopsy. Accurate but dangerous. 📍 Cryobiopsy. Safer but inconsistent. 📍 Transbronchial biopsy. Too limited. No clear consensus guides biopsy choice. Approaches vary widely by hospital. Patients sometimes face high-risk biopsy without clear benefit. Biopsy is invasive and unsuitable for early suspicion. By biopsy time, lung scarring is often advanced. Opportunities for effective treatment have usually narrowed. Biopsy adds value but can’t be the only answer. The system waits too long—and that delay has serious flaws. #ILD #LungBiopsy #PulmonaryMedicine #ClinicalCare #DiagnosticPathways #LungHealth

People with scleroderma (also called systemic sclerosis) often develop serious lung problems. One of the most common is interstitial lung disease (ILD). Here’s what’s usually done: 📍 Diagnosis of scleroderma depends on noticing skin symptoms or positive antibodies. 📍 Doctors use pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to check for ILD. But this approach has flaws. Studies show that PFTs can miss ILD, especially early on. ILD is found in up to 80–90% of scleroderma patients by imaging or autopsy; yet only 30–40% are diagnosed early. And scleroderma can exist without visible skin thickening, making it easy to overlook. ILD from scleroderma is serious and sometimes deadly. The current standard waits for obvious signs. #Scleroderma #ILD #PulmonaryFibrosis #AutoimmuneLungDisease #EarlyDetection #ClinicalStandards #LungHealth

🧬 Pulmonary Fibrosis and Genetics: What We Could Be Catching Sooner Pulmonary fibrosis doesn’t always come out of nowhere. Some people are born with a higher risk—but right now, we rarely look for it. This is how it’s usually handled: 📍 Doctors wait until someone has cough, shortness of breath, or unusual lung scans. 📍 Even though about 1 in 5 cases may run in families, genetic testing is not part of standard care. 📍 One gene, called MUC5B, can increase your risk by more than 6 times. 📍 Some people have lung changes visible on a CT scan years before they notice any symptoms. So what’s the problem? The current system is built on waiting, and waiting has flaws. Looking at family history could turn waiting into prevention. #PulmonaryFibrosis #IPF #Genetics #LungHealth #ClinicalCare #EarlyDetection

Too often, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) isn’t recognized until pregnancy—when the body is under its greatest strain. Symptoms get dismissed, diagnosis comes late, and risk remains high even after delivery. The challenge isn’t just biology—it’s recognition that comes too late. #PulmonaryHypertension #PAH #MaternalHealth #EarlyDetection #LungHealth

🫁 When PAH Shows Up in Pregnancy, It’s Already Late For many women, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) isn’t recognized until pregnancy. That delay means the highest-risk moment is also the first time it’s named. Pregnancy transforms the body. Blood volume rises. The heart works harder. Most adapt. In PAH, the strain becomes dangerous. And the signals get lost along the way: 📍 Fatigue written off as normal pregnancy 📍 Breathlessness seen as expected 📍 Heart failure blurred by fluid changes 📍 Diagnosis made only when crisis hits Even with modern care, maternal mortality in PAH pregnancy is still about 12%. The greatest danger comes after delivery. The problem isn’t only biology. It’s recognition that comes too late. #PulmonaryHypertension #PAH #MaternalHealth #EarlyDetection #LungHealth #ClinicalGaps

🫁 More Symptoms. Less Recognition. Worse Quality of Life. Women are more likely than men to develop both COPD and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). But across both conditions, care isn’t keeping up. 📍 Women often wait longer for a diagnosis 📍 Symptoms like shortness of breath or fatigue are dismissed as anxiety, stress, or “normal” aging 📍 And even with treatment, women report a worse quality of life This is what happens when care paradigms are constructed with a focus on male symptoms — and haven’t fully evolved. We see it in the estrogen paradox in PAH. We see it in the delayed COPD diagnoses in women. And we keep seeing the cost of care that waits too long to listen. The current standard of care reacts to late-stage decline. What we need is care that meets women where they are. #WomensHealth #PulmonaryHypertension #COPD #EstrogenParadox #LungHealth #EarlyDetection #MedicalBias #MetforaDiagnostics

🫁 RA and Lung Disease: We Know It's There. We Still Don’t Treat It Well. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) doesn’t just affect the joints. For many patients, it also damages the lungs—causing interstitial lung disease (ILD). But lung care in RA often comes too late or isn’t part of the plan at all. Here’s what we know: 📍 ILD shows up in up to 1 in 3 RA patients, sometimes before joint pain. 📍 Lung disease is one of the top causes of death in people with RA. 📍 Risk goes up with age, smoking, and high RA antibody levels. And here’s the problem: -There’s no clear treatment pathway for RA-ILD. -Many medications used are borrowed from other conditions—with mixed results. -Clinical trials are small, or haven’t reached clear answers. -Even recent guidelines still leave room for guesswork. RA-ILD is common. It’s serious. And for now, care depends more on the provider than the data. The current standard of care is scattered, cautious, and inconsistent— and that has consequences. #RAILD #RheumatoidArthritis #InterstitialLungDisease #PulmonaryCare #ClinicalGuidelines #MedicalGaps #LungHealth

🫁 Pulmonary Hypertension in ILD: What We Know—and What Needs to Change About 1 in 3 people with interstitial lung disease (ILD) may also develop pulmonary hypertension (PH). But many don’t find out until they’re already very sick. This is how it’s usually handled: 📍 Doctors use echocardiograms first, but they can miss signs of PH. 📍 Right heart catheterization gives better answers—but it’s often done late. 📍 Most PH medications don’t work well for ILD patients. Some have even caused harm in studies. 📍 A newer option—inhaled treprostinil—has helped patients breathe and walk better. So what’s the problem? The current standard reacts to PH after it’s already developed. What patients need is care that finds it earlier—before symptoms get worse. #PHILD #PulmonaryHypertension #ILD #LungHealth #MedicalCare #ClinicalStandards #MetforaDiagnostics #Healthcare #LateDetection