Navigating Lung Conditions: Insights From Lungs Hospital Specialists

Navigating Lung Conditions: Pulmonologists are respiratory health experts who use diagnostic tests to identify causes accurately and create personalized plans for conditions like asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, bronchitis, mesothelioma and more. They’re true lifesavers.

According to the best lungs hospital Symptoms of a lung condition usually develop slowly and may be misinterpreted as normal, leading to late diagnosis. By the time a patient visits a doctor, irreversible damage has often already occurred.

What is Pulmonary Function Testing?

Lung function testing, also known as PFTs or pulmonary tests, helps your doctor evaluate your breathing ability. A pulmonary test can determine the cause of breathing problems, and the severity of lung diseases and can guide your treatment options.

Pulmonary function tests can be performed in your doctor’s office or at a testing facility. Most types of PFTs require a physical exam and listening to your lungs with a stethoscope, as well as a review of your symptoms and medical history. Pulmonary function tests can include a spirometry test that measures the volume of air moving in and out of your lungs, the speed at which you breathe, and your lung capacity.

Other lung tests may include body plethysmography, which uses a tube attached to a machine to measure your volume of breathing and lung capacity. This test can detect obstructive disorders, which occur when the lungs fill with too much air and take longer to empty, such as asthma or chronic bronchitis.

Other tests, such as a methacholine challenge, can diagnose asthma by allowing you to breathe in a medicine that opens the airways. It can also be used to see if your COPD is responsive to bronchodilators, which are drugs that relax the tight muscles in the airways and ease breathing. Lastly, a pulse oximetry test is a noninvasive test that measures the amount of oxygen in your blood. This is done by clipping a sensor to an artery, usually on the finger or wrist.

What is Bronchoscopy?

Bronchoscopy is a safe procedure that allows the healthcare provider to look inside the airways of your lungs. A bronchoscope can help your healthcare provider diagnose conditions like lung cancer, tracheal or bronchial blockages and other diseases in your lungs and airways. It can also be used to perform treatments, such as removing a tumor or clearing a blockage.

Before the bronchoscopy, your doctor will spray numbing medicine into your nose and throat. It may have a bitter taste and will make your tongue feel thick. Then, the healthcare provider will guide the bronchoscope down your throat and into your lungs to examine the lining of your lungs. They can also take tissue samples or mucus for testing and do other procedures with the bronchoscope.

To prepare for a bronchoscopy, the healthcare team will ask you to not eat or drink anything for about 6 to 12 hours before the test. You will also need to remove any dentures or contact lenses. The healthcare team will monitor your temperature, blood pressure and breathing rate during the bronchoscopy.

After the procedure, you will spend time in a recovery room. Your healthcare team will let you know when it is safe to go home. You will likely need someone to drive you home since you’ll be drowsy from the sedative.

What is Interventional Pulmonology?

The medical sub-specialty of interventional pulmonology (IP) uses minimally invasive methods to diagnose and treat lung diseases, including cancers, airway obstructions, pleural effusions and chest pain. IP experts use specialized tools to locate and biopsy abnormal areas in the lungs and respiratory tract, without surgery.

During an interventional pulmonary procedure, doctors advance a flexible tube (bronchoscope) into the mouth or nose and down through the windpipe into each lung. This tube is equipped with a camera and light, allowing the doctor to see inside the lungs. The pulmonologist then passes small tools through the bronchoscope to perform tests or treatments. This can include a biopsy using small tweezers, removing a foreign object with a laser, placing silicone stents to open blocked airways or draining a fluid in the lungs (pleural effusion).

At City of Hope, our interventional pulmonologists are trained in advanced diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy and other minimally invasive procedures for lung, airway and pleural disease. Our expertise can help patients feel better and live a more active life.

Our interventional pulmonologists can also provide preventive cancer screenings to identify early-stage lung cancer. In addition, our team offers advanced bronchoscopy techniques such as electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) for detecting and diagnosing lymph nodes in the chest wall. These techniques can be used to improve the accuracy of a biopsy, and allow physicians to avoid more invasive chest wall surgery in certain cases.

What is Lung Cancer Screening?

Lung cancer screening aims to find lung cancer before it causes symptoms when it’s more likely to be curable. It’s important to talk to your doctor about whether you’re eligible for the screening test, based on your age, smoking history, and family history of lung cancer. You can also learn more about lung cancer screening by visiting the PDQ cancer information summary from the National Cancer Institute (opens in a new tab).

Screening tests like chest X-rays and sputum cytology help doctors look for cancer cells inside the lungs. They also help determine the stage of the lung cancer, which tells doctors what kind of treatment you might need.

The main screening test for lung cancer is a low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan of the chest. Unlike traditional chest X-rays, LDCT scans can provide more detailed pictures of the lungs from multiple angles.

Some people who smoke can have false-positive test results, meaning the scan shows possible signs of cancer when none is present. These false-positive test results can cause anxiety and lead to invasive testing, such as a biopsy, that may be unnecessary.

Those who have a high risk for lung cancer and don’t have any symptoms should be screened with an LDCT every year until they are no longer considered at high risk. However, it’s important to know that the PDQ cancer information summary from NCI (opens in a new tab) states that the benefits of screening do not outweigh the risks.