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Pulmonary Care
Physicians specializing in Pulmonary Medicine at Olympia Medical Center evaluate, diagnose and treat breathing disorders and lung disease. From routine assessments of chronic cough and shortness of breath to specialized cancer treatment, Pulmonary Medicine offers a multi-speciality but very personalized approach to care.
Other areas of expertise include lung cancer diagnosis, pulmonary vascular disease, pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease, endoscopic therapy, lung infections and vasodilator therapy.
Pulmonary medicine physicians routinely consult with colleagues in Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiovascular Diseases, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Diseases and Rheumatology to ensure all aspects of a patient's problem are evaluated.
Pulmonary Diseases
Lung disease is any disease or disorder where lung function is impaired. There are three major physiologic categories of lung diseases:
- Obstructive lung disease -- a decrease in the exhaled air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of the airways, such as with asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.
- Restrictive lung disease -- a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold. Often, this is due to a decrease in the elasticity of the lungs themselves or caused by a problem related to the expansion of the chest wall during inhalation.
- A defect in the ability of the lung's air sac tissue to move oxygen into a person's blood.
Most lung diseases actually involve a combination of these categories, such as emphysema, which involves both airflow obstruction and oxygenation problems.
Major lung diseases include:
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asthma
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bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia
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chronic bronchitis
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COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
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emphysema
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interstitial lung disease
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pulmonary fibrosis
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sarcoidosis
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sleep apnea
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sleep disorders
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restless leg syndrome
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narcolepsy
Other lung diseases include:
- asbestosis
- aspergilloma
- aspergillosis
- aspergillosis - acute invasive
- atelectasis
- eosinophilic pneumonia
- lung cancer
- necrotizing pneumonia
- pleural effusion
- pneumoconiosis
- pneumocystosis
- pneumonia
- pneumothorax
- pulmonary actinomycosis
- pulmonary alveolar proteinosis
- pulmonary anthrax
- pulmonary arteriovenous malformation
- pulmonary edema
- pulmonary embolus
- pulmonary histiocytosis X (eosinophilic granuloma)
- pulmonary hypertension
- pulmonary nocardiosis
- pulmonary tuberculosis
- pulmonary veno-occlusive disease
- rheumatoid lung disease
These are the most common. There are also other lung diseases and disorders.
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