The demise of DIP, and the way forward

<title>Extract</title> We read the recent European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society statement regarding the classification of interstitial pneumonia authored by R<sc>yerson</sc> <italic>et al.</italic> [1] with great interest. Although the article addresses several important issues, the focus of this correspondence is on the replacement of the outdated misnomer desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) with a term that more accurately describes the pathological findings: alveolar macrophage pneumonia (AMP). We appreciate the authors’ effort to introduce this bold change, which is a step in the right direction. Change in nomenclature is never easy, especially when doctors have become accustomed to using a term over a long period of time (in this case, 60 years). No matter how inaccurate or outdated the term, inertia strongly favours doing things as they have always been done. However, in our opinion, the demise of DIP was long overdue.