Overview

Medical Services & Treatments

Find a Physician

Locations

Make an Appointment

For Physicians

Medical Services and Treatments

The UF Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine treats a wide array of medical conditions, including:

Shortness of breath

The most common condition seen treated is shortness of breath. The physicians' goals are determine the cause and arrive at appropriate therapy based on the underlying condition. Shortness of breath can be caused by heart disease, lung disease, deconditioning, or any combination of these things.

Diagnosing the correct underlying condition can be as simple as pulmonary function tests (breathing into a machine) to diagnose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma or can involve more complicated heart and lung tests. These tests can include high resolution CT scanning, echocardiography, stress tests, and a vast array of other tests depending on the underlying cause. Treating shortness of breath depends upon the cause.

Obstructive lung disease

Obstructive lung diseases, which include emphysema and chronic bronchitis, are commonly referred to as COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Less than one-half of people labeled with this disease have actually undergone diagnostic testing to confirm the diagnosis. The test can be obtained at the time of the initial office visit and consists of blowing forcefully into a machine known as a spirometer.

Once the diagnosis is confirmed then a program of medication, exercise, and patient education is prescribed to enable the patient to avoid acute illness, maximize their exercise ability and improve their quality of life.

Asthma

Asthma is nearly always able to be managed by the patient. In the asthma clinic the focus is on patient education. The multidisciplinary team of clinical pharmacists, respiratory therapists, and physicians has as its goal the prevention of asthma attacks using the least amount of medication possible so that the patient can live and work normally.

Abnormal X-rays

Most patients with abnormal X-rays are seen in the Thoracic Oncology Clinic because the multidisciplinary approach enables rapid evaluation. An evaluation can entail anything from a review of films in the case of obvious, non-serious conditions to bronchoscopic biopsy (including lymph node biopsy by ultrasound bronchoscopy) and referral to a cardiothoracic surgeon for surgical biopsy.

Other conditions and services

• Connective tissue disease
  • Sarcoidosis
• Critical care services
• Infections
  • Atypical mycobacterial infections
  • Tuberculosis
• Interstitial lung disease
  • Pulmonary fibrosis
• Lung cancer diagnosis and evaluation
  • Bronchoscopy services
  • Mesothelioma
• Pulmonary vascular disease
  • Pulmonary hypertension
  • Pulmonary embolism
  • Pulmonary vasculitis (Wegener's granulomatosis)
• Sleep disorder evaluation and treatment

[top of page]