Respiratory Department

With the optimal treatment approach of early disease detection, doctors apply advanced techniques in diagnosis and treatment through the following procedures:

• Flexible bronchoscopy and related endoscopic procedures: Diagnosis using brushing, washing, biopsy, transbronchial blind biopsy, and fluoroscopy‑guided transbronchial biopsy.

• Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) with flexible bronchoscope for transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) of mediastinal lymph nodes and transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB): the most advanced technique in bronchoscopy today, capable of accessing all lesions, lung tumors, especially peripheral lung lesions, with a diagnostic accuracy of 98–100%; helps patients avoid thoracic surgery for diagnostic sampling.

• Interventional bronchoscopy with laser ablation: The laser beam is precisely focused on the lesion, causing less damage to surrounding healthy tissues compared to conventional surgical instruments. After treatment, patients experience less pain, reduced risk of bleeding and local swelling, and minimal scarring.

• Pleuroscopy: Using a pleural endoscope to aspirate pleural effusion and obtain precise pleural tissue biopsies for diagnosing pleural diseases. Talc poudrage for pleurodesis is highly effective.

• Pleural fibrosis for treating malignant pleural effusion: Inducing injury in the pleura so that the lung tissue becomes thickened, fibrotic, and loses elasticity, forming scar tissue. These pulmonary scars help prevent malignant pleural effusion.

• Placement of pleural drainage tube: Inserting a small tube into the pleural cavity (the space between the lung and the chest wall) to drain gases and fluids produced by certain diseases.

• Non‑invasive ventilation (BiPAP): Providing airflow to the patient without inserting an endotracheal tube, thereby avoiding the risks associated with intubation.

• Invasive mechanical ventilation: When the patient stops breathing or experiences respiratory failure, an endotracheal tube is placed and the patient is placed on modern, multi‑function ventilators.

• Spirometry for diagnosing asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other chronic lung diseases: A routine technique for diagnosing, monitoring, and assessing the severity of respiratory tract diseases. The method uses a device that measures airflow during inhalation and exhalation to calculate many important lung function indices. This technique records parameters related to lung activity and evaluates the two ventilation disorders in patients: obstruction and restriction.

• Pleural biopsy with Abrams needle: A procedure used to obtain a tissue sample of the pleura for microscopic examination. During pleural biopsy, the doctor can also collect fluid from within the pleural layer for testing. The obtained tissue and fluid samples help the doctor accurately determine the cause of the patient’s symptoms, leading to appropriate treatment.

• Fine‑needle aspiration (FNA) of lung tumor through the chest wall: A procedure using a small hollow needle that gently punctures the skin at the lesion site to obtain a small sample of cells or fluid for microscopic examination. This method is commonly performed to identify cell types in a tumor or to assess the treatment response of an existing tumor.

• Overnight oxygen saturation measurement: A method that helps identify sleep‑related disorders such as apnea, hypopnea, arrhythmia, and periodic limb movements. The results provide detailed information on sleep quality and the precise degree of apnea and hypopnea.

• 6‑minute walk test: A test measuring the maximum distance a patient can walk within a set time period, used to assess exercise capacity in individuals with cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, or musculoskeletal disorders.