Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union. CA16125 ENTeR-chILD

Children’s interstitial and diffuse lung disease (chILD) is a group of rare lung diseases ranging from infancy to adolescence. It is a heterogeneous group of non-neoplastic disorders resulting from damage by varying patterns of inflammation and fibrosis with the interstitium as the primary site of injury. Although there are a large number of different diseases (over 200) the presenting symptoms and signs are very similar with the main feature being a derangement of gas exchange and restrictive lung physiology.

Adult interstitial lung disease is often different from chILD although some of these diseases can present from childhood till adulthood. The rarity of individual chILDs contributes to a lack of randomized control trial data on effectiveness of treatments. Management strategies derive from other diseases or are based on physicians experience and remain controversial.

ENTeR chILD is a network of multidisciplinary clinicians (paediatric and adult), scientists, and patients and their families funded by COST Action (CA16125). The network is coordinating pan-European research from basic science to clinical care with the ultimate goals to accurate and early diagnosis with structured, potentially personalized, management and therapies that will lead to improvements in long-term outcome of patients with ILD.

The COST Action's Memorandum of Understanding is available for download here.