Pulmonology Clinic - General & Interventional

Our highly skilled, board-certified physicians provide specialized care in advanced interventional pulmonology and general pulmonary treatment for complex airway conditions and disorders, and pleural diseases.

  • Benign and malignant diseases of the chest
  • Asthma
  • COPD
  • Emphysema
  • Lung cancer
  • Lung nodules
  • Pleural disease
  • Excessive central airway collapse
  • Tracheostomy related complications
  • Benign and malignant airway stenosis and obstruction
  • Pleural effusions

Commonly Asked Questions

Am I eligible for lung cancer screening?  Will my insurance pay for it?

You are eligible for Low Dose Computed Tomography (LDCT) once per year, if you meet all of the following conditions:

  • You are between 50 and 80 years old.
  • You don’t have signs or symptoms of lung cancer (asymptomatic).
  • You are either a current smoker or have quit smoking within the last 15 years.
  • You have a tobacco smoking history of at least 20 “pack years” (an average of one pack of cigarettes for 20 years)
  • You obtain a written order form from your doctor.

My primary care physician recently diagnosed me with a pulmonary nodule.  Does this mean I have cancer?

No, in fact up to 25% of patients who smoked at least 30 “pack years” have lung nodule on CT chest and only a minority of those patients will have lung cancer eventually.  The key will be to follow up on the lung nodule.

My wife has been asking me to quit smoking for years and I finally agreed to do so.  Will my lungs repair themselves or is the damage already done?

When you quit smoking, the inflammation in the airways goes down. The little hair-like projections in the airways that we call cilia — which are paralyzed by smoke — begin to work again. So the lungs will get better in weeks to months. Breathing will get better. Exercise capacity will get better. Paradoxically, people find that they cough a little right after they stop smoking, but that's natural. 

That's the lungs cleaning themselves out. But if you've been smoking a long time and have developed COPD (or, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), the lungs never totally heal. Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the airway. Some of that inflammation can be reversed. But if the inflammation has led to scarring of the walls of the airway, some of that cannot.