Criteria of clinical response assessment
Patients were assessed for health status (quality of life or QoL), blood samples, pulmonary function parameters (FVC, DLCO), and serial imaging HRCT at two time points, at baseline and after 6 months (+/− 3 weeks). Two independent pulmonologists, specialized in ILD, independently evaluated the aforementioned parameters and assessed the treatment response. Patients were categorized into three types of clinical response: non-responders (NR; worsening of clinical condition), stable responders (RSP