Pulmonology & Respiratory Care

Pulmonology & Respiratory Care

You thrive by using the oxygen your lungs distribute throughout your body. But life becomes a challenge when you face difficulty breathing or your lungs don’t function properly.

Comprehensive Pulmonary & Respiratory Care Close to Home

Choose the pulmonology and respiratory care experts at OU Health in Oklahoma City and Edmond to help you breathe better. You gain access to top-quality services, advanced technology and innovative treatments discovered in clinical trials conducted by our academic health center scientists.

When you partner with OU Health, you’ll work with a multidisciplinary team of pulmonologists and specialists from across the healthcare spectrum – neurology, radiology, surgery, trauma, cardiology and more – to develop an accurate diagnosis for your pulmonary or respiratory condition and create an individualized treatment plan to address your specific situation.

Call for an Appointment or Second Opinion

Explore your pulmonary and respiratory health options or get a second opinion from an OU Health pulmonologist or thoracic surgeon.

call (405) 271-7001

Pulmonary & Respiratory Conditions

Talk with your primary care doctor and OU Health pulmonologists to evaluate your respiratory health any time you receive an abnormal chest X-ray, if you feel like you can’t get enough air or if you cough up blood or mucus. And you’ll want to visit with an OU Health pulmonary or respiratory expert if you experience a lingering cough, decreased ability to exercise, discomfort or pain when breathing in or out, shortness of breath or trouble breathing. Such symptoms may indicate respiratory conditions such as:

Pulmonary & Respiratory Treatments

At OU Health, you benefit from the safest and most current treatment options designed to help you achieve the best results for your particular situation. Your expert pulmonology care team uses an advanced pulmonary function laboratory to develop a comprehensive evaluation and accurate diagnosis for your condition. Your treatment options may include a wide range of medications, including innovative therapies available nowhere else except through clinical trials conducted at OU Health, as well as:

Treatment for Advanced Lung Disease

At OU Health, you receive timely appointments, coupled with a multidisciplinary approach to care, encompassing specialists from thoracic radiology, lung pathology, and rheumatology working closely with experts in advanced lung diseases.

No matter where you live in Oklahoma or the region, you’ll benefit from access to expert pulmonary specialists who deliver comprehensive treatment and advanced therapies for advanced lung diseases including:

Specialized treatments include:

  • Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy for obtaining lung tissue for diagnosis. This procedure is the leading edge of pulmonary medicine. Ours is the only center in the state of Oklahoma to adopt this approach, thus offering the ability to obtain more tissue in minimally invasive way.
  • Right heart catheterizations, which include vasoreactivity testing with inhaled nitric oxide, and provocative testing such as fluid challenge, dobutamine challenge and exercise right heart catheterization to better characterize pulmonary vascular diseases.
  • Cardiac PET protocol that includes metabolic and perfusion images of the heart for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis, a result of a collaboration with nuclear medicine.

Expert Assistance to Stop Smoking & Quit Tobacco

If you smoke or use other forms of tobacco, you know the challenges of trying to quit. So does OU Health – and that’s why you can rely on our expert pulmonologists and researchers to help you break the cycle.

As part of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, the scientists and healthcare specialists at the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center (OTRC) use grant funds from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) to develop a variety of services, such as tobacco cessation, a free program to help you quit. OTRC helps reduce Oklahoma’s leading causes of preventable death – tobacco use and obesity – that contribute to elevated rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease across the state.

Respiratory Therapy

To support the personalized treatment plan developed by you and your pulmonary care team, you’ll work with OU Health’s respiratory therapists, whether you’re in the hospital or at home. Your therapists handle certain diagnostic tests and the therapeutic treatments identified in your plan.

Your Safety Takes Top Priority

Respiratory therapy may support your health while hospitalized for a wide range of conditions and situations such as heart attack, stroke, chronic asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, pneumonia or COPD. If you’re of advanced age or if you experienced a traumatic injury or other situation that requires a stay in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), you benefit from OU Health’s respiratory therapy experts whose diligent attention and teamwork assure your safety.

Although, nationally, 23 percent of hospitalized people on a ventilator acquire a particular form of pneumonia, no cases of this condition have happened at Edmond Medical Center during the previous five years. As always, at OU Health, your safety takes top priority.

Thoracic Conditions & Treatments

If your respiratory condition requires surgery, you benefit from access to Oklahoma’s largest thoracic surgical practice, part of OU Health in Oklahoma City. You gain access to the latest thoracic surgical procedures, both ongoing medical innovations and tomorrow’s breakthroughs, not available anywhere else in the region.

Thoracic Surgery

Thoracic surgeons at OU Health perform minimally invasive, robotic-assisted and traditional procedures on all organs in the chest including the heart, lungs and esophagus. Depending on your condition, your options may include:

Your Pulmonology, Respiratory Care & Thoracic Experts

As you work with OU Health specialists to address your pulmonary, respiratory or thoracic health condition, you benefit from the expertise, advanced training and years of experience held by the physicians and specialists who also educate the next generation of doctors, surgeons and therapists.

Depending on your specific situation, your OU Health team members may include pulmonary/critical care physicians, board-certified sleep medicine specialists, certified interventional pulmonology specialists, thoracic and cancer surgeons, oncology experts and trauma specialists, among others.

Better Breathing Support Group

Attend the Better Breathers Club, sponsored by OU Health Respiratory Therapy, for support from others who experience respiratory issues. Monthly meetings cover many breathing-related topics. For information or to RSVP, call (405) 341-6100, ext. 5440.

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