Pulmonology

Heavy breathing? When catching your breath is no longer a given or when that cough just won’t go away, there’s a reason. The proper diagnosis might clear the air.

About

Pulmonology is the subspecialty of Internal Medicine that involves the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of lung diseases. A lung specialist is often asked to evaluate and treat patients who have shortness of breath, emphysema, asthma, chronic cough or, chronic infections of the lung. Not everyone who suffers from lung disease needs a Pulmonologist. Many patients with asthma and pneumonia, etc., can be managed by an internist.

A lung specialist’s skills are most needed in those complex cases which require special knowledge in diagnosis and treatment of lung disease or in those cases in which highly specialized tests are needed for diagnosis. One of the major activities of the pulmonologist is the care of intensive care patients who require ventilatory support on a respirator. Another is in the diagnostic evaluation of lung problems with the fiberoptic bronchoscope.

Services

Pulmonary Function Testing

NEA Baptist Clinic offers a wide array of pulmonary function testing used to diagnose and treat lung diseases. These tests include spirometry with bronchospasm (asthma) testing, as well as the determination of lung volumes and diffusing capacity. Methacholine bronchoprovocation testing helps determine the degree of bronchial sensitivity.

In addition, NEA Baptist Clinic has state-of-the-art exercise physiology equipment to assess shortness of breath (dyspnea) and gas exchange analysis including oxygen requirement and carbon dioxide production. Exercise physiology testing is used to develop individual programs for cardiovascular fitness and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. The pulmonary physicians also monitor patients at the sleep labs at local hospitals.

Use of these pulmonary function tests by the lung specialists and the primary care physicians allows them to evaluate and monitor their patients’ lung problems.

Locations

Pulmonology is the subspecialty of Internal Medicine that involves the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of lung diseases. A lung specialist is often asked to evaluate and treat patients who have shortness of breath, emphysema, asthma, chronic cough or, chronic infections of the lung. Not everyone who suffers from lung disease needs a Pulmonologist. Many patients with asthma and pneumonia, etc., can be managed by an internist.

A lung specialist’s skills are most needed in those complex cases which require special knowledge in diagnosis and treatment of lung disease or in those cases in which highly specialized tests are needed for diagnosis. One of the major activities of the pulmonologist is the care of intensive care patients who require ventilatory support on a respirator. Another is in the diagnostic evaluation of lung problems with the fiberoptic bronchoscope.

Pulmonary Function Testing

NEA Baptist Clinic offers a wide array of pulmonary function testing used to diagnose and treat lung diseases. These tests include spirometry with bronchospasm (asthma) testing, as well as the determination of lung volumes and diffusing capacity. Methacholine bronchoprovocation testing helps determine the degree of bronchial sensitivity.

In addition, NEA Baptist Clinic has state-of-the-art exercise physiology equipment to assess shortness of breath (dyspnea) and gas exchange analysis including oxygen requirement and carbon dioxide production. Exercise physiology testing is used to develop individual programs for cardiovascular fitness and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. The pulmonary physicians also monitor patients at the sleep labs at local hospitals.

Use of these pulmonary function tests by the lung specialists and the primary care physicians allows them to evaluate and monitor their patients’ lung problems.