Pulmonary & Respiratory Medicine

Interventional pulmonology

Interventional pulmonology is a subspecialty that uses advanced diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to care for patients with benign and malignant diseases of the lung, airways, and pleura. There has been a rapid proliferation of new pulmonary procedural technologies over the last decade. Common diagnostic applications include endobronchial ultrasound, guided bronchoscopy, and several pleural disease interventions. Endobronchial ultrasound is performed with a specially design flexible bronchoscope and allows safe and accurate sampling of intrathoracic structures through the airway wall under direct visualization. Guided bronchoscopy methods are granting significant improvement in the diagnostic yield of flexible bronchoscopy. Virtual bronchoscopy, radial probe endobronchial ultrasound and electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy are examples of these methods.