TY - JOUR T1 - Interstitial lung diseases: course report JF - Breathe JO - Breathe SP - 270 LP - 272 DO - 10.1183/20734735.0259-2019 VL - 15 IS - 4 AU - Michael Kreuter AU - Athol Wells AU - Deval R. Mehta AU - Anna Kovchun Y1 - 2019/12/01 UR - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/15/4/270.abstract N2 - In 2014, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) realised the need to improve medical education in the field of rare lung disease, especially in interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Since then, four ERS courses have been held in Heidelberg, Germany, and provided an overview of the field of ILDs. The latest ERS course on ILD was again held in Heidelberg in April 2019 and 80 participants from 27 different countries took part. New this year, the course was streamed live to over 100 participants from 31 countries. Over the years, the organisers' and the ERS's ambition has been to improve the interactivity and the interdisciplinary aspects of this course. To address this, the participants learnt which diagnostic procedures should be applied for approaching ILDs and what difficulties may arise in ILD diagnosis, which were discussed based on real-life cases. Special emphasis was given to practical courses including high-resolution computed tomography (CT) evaluation and sessions on ILD pathology, and a hands-on session on cryobiopsy. As therapy remains a challenging aspect in the management of ILDs, this course provided participants with insights into the newest developments, and the pros and cons of specific ILD treatments; in addition, end-of-life strategies and acute complications were approached in workshops. Interdisciplinary ILD board discussions were held between specialists and course participants, and course attendees had the opportunity to present their own challenging cases and discuss them with leading experts. Furthermore, there was a dedicated session on the pathogenesis and future trends in ILDs as well as specific conditions and treatments for ILDs.Participants attending the recent @EuroRespSoc course on interstitial lung diseases share their experiences http://bit.ly/31roKoG ER -