What are the benefits of having oral acetylcysteine in pulmonary fibrosis?

Pulmonary fibrosis: There is one type of pulmonary fibrosis (aka interstitial lung disease) known as uip(usual interstitial pneumonia) of which there have been some trials done with n-acetylcysteine(nac). It is thought that it may slow down the inflammatory process associated with uip. To date, there have not been convincing studies to suggest this. That being said, we do use it because the side effects are minimal.

Unknown: A small study using n-acetylcysteine was published a few years ago in the new england journal. In that study patients taking te drug had a slower rate of decline than patients not on the drug. The study is tough to interpret because the nac patients were also on steroids. A larger trial is underway but the drug is considered relatively safe to take.