The health of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit was in the news last week after . The announcement came shortly after a considerable worsening of your health condition in the last six months. At 52 years old, the princess has lived with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis.
Pulmonary fibrosis is one of the most common forms of so-called interstitial lung diseases. It is a chronic pathology, non-infectious e limited to the lungs. In practice, the disease promotes the replacement of healthy lung tissue by fibrosis (scars). This process hardens the organ, which impairs its ability to carry out gas exchange e hinders blood oxygenation.
The evolution of the disease occurs in different ways among patients: while some present a slow progression over years, others may suffer a rapid decline in a few months. In most cases, evolution is progressive and fatalwith an average survival of two to four years after diagnosis, although new treatments seek to extend this period.
The main symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis are:
- Shortness of breath with progressive worsening;
- Persistent dry cough (for more than six months);
- Fatigue and, in advanced stages, bluish color in the extremities (fingers) due to low oxygenation;
The condition may present episodes called “acute exacerbations” — periods of sudden worsening of symptoms that can occur at any time, often requiring the use of oxygen supplementation.
Diagnosis and treatment
Diagnosis is carried out using clinical examinations, lung function tests e high resolution tomography. In cases of doubt, a surgical lung biopsy.
There is currently no cure for pulmonary fibrosis. The treatment focuses on reduce the rate of progression of the disease through high cost medicinessuch as nintedanib and pirfenidone.
In addition to behavioral changes and oxygen support, some patients, depending on age and general condition, may be referred to lung transplantas is the case with the Crown Princess of Norway.
Mette-Marit’s health was recently cited by the defense of her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby. The young man awaits the verdict, scheduled for June 15th, for rape accusations and violence against an ex-partner. Høiby’s lawyers requested his immediate release on the grounds that his mother’s health is fragile. The request awaits a court decision.
*With information from AFP
