Respiratory Care

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ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda provide a wide variety of diagnostic, preventive and treatment services for diseases that affect breathing and lung function. Pulmonary doctors (pulmonologists) work collaboratively with an interdisciplinary group of specialists, including cardiologists, interventional radiologists, surgeons and other health care professionals to provide care for conditions such as:

• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Emphysema
• Lung cancer
• Pneumonia
• Pulmonary embolism and hypertension
• Sleep apnea

Pulmonary specialists provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient breathing treatment services, including:

• Arterial blood gas sampling and analysis
• Bronchial hygiene therapy
• Evaluation for home care needs, including patient education, and referrals for oxygen and respiratory therapy equipment
• Lung function studies
• Oxygen studies, including nighttime, exercise and resting studies

Lung Disease Detection

If you've been told you have a spot on your lung, a lung nodule, or a lung mass, you will need a lung biopsy. During a lung biopsy, physicians take a tissue sample in order to make an accurate diagnosis. It may sound scary, but finding spots on your lung when they are small may have advantages. Research performed by the American College of Chest Physicians shows most small lung spots turn out not to be cancer and could be an infection or scar tissue from a previous infection.

Traditionally doctors used a procedure called bronchoscopy to perform a lung biopsy. During a bronchoscopy, a thick but flexible tube is used to examine the inside of the air passages and take a small tissue sample for analysis. Standard bronchoscopies only allow doctors to reach spots that are close to the main airways.

ShorePoint Health offers a navigation system with GPS-like technology that allows physicians to navigate and access difficult-to-reach areas of the lung from the inside. This system can aid in early diagnosis and help your physician plan your treatment.

Traditional bronchoscopy typically allows access only to the center regions of the lung. With this new navigation system and its specialized GPS technology, physicians can navigate to the outer areas of the lung during the procedure.

Ask your doctor is this procedure may be right for you.

Resources
American Lung Association
American College of Chest Physicians