interstitial pneumonia

7.9

A long-term lung illness that causes swelling and scarring of the tissue between air sacs

noun
/ˌɪntərˈstɪʃəl pəˈnoʊmiə/

Specialized

: neumonía intersticial

The patient was diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia after complaining of persistent shortness of breath.

Examples

Treatment for interstitial pneumonia often involves medication to reduce lung inflammation.
Doctors monitor the progression of interstitial pneumonia with regular chest imaging and lung function tests.
She was diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia last year.
Many patients with interstitial pneumonia experience shortness of breath.
The patient was diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia after complaining of persistent shortness of breath.
Doctors monitor the progression of interstitial pneumonia with regular chest imaging and lung function tests.
Treatment for interstitial pneumonia often involves medication to reduce lung inflammation.

Surface Forms

interstitial pneumonia singular

interstitial pneumonias plural

Morphology

interstitial + pneumonia

The meaning — a pneumonia affecting the interstitial (between-tissue) spaces of the lung — is directly and compositionally derived from 'interstitial' (in the tiny spaces between tissues) + 'pneumonia' (lung infection). Although medical/technical, the structure is transparent and parallels equivalents in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Interstitial pneumonia comes from a literal description: interstitial means 'in the spaces' between the tiny air sacs of the lung, and pneumonia means inflammation of the lung. So the name tells you it is 'a lung disease that causes inflammation and scarring in the spaces between the air sacs'.