Ambulatory oxygen in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: of what benefit?

To the Editors:

We read with interest the Letter by Visca et al. [1], recently published in the European Respiratory Journal, which described improvement in 6-min walk distance with ambulatory oxygen in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). We have looked specifically at the effects of ambulatory oxygen on walk distance in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and here describe a practical way of ensuring patients are prescribed an optimum flow rate of ambulatory oxygen.

Between 2004 and 2007, we conducted a retrospective review of anonymised data, studying the effect of ambulatory oxygen on the distance walked in patients with IPF …