What is a chest (respiratory) physician and what do they do?
A chest physician – also known as a pulmonologist – is a hospital-baser doctor who specialises in lung and other respiratory conditions. They are not surgeons and don’t do operations.
They diagnose and treat diseases of the respiratory system.
In addition to your lungs, your respiratory system includes your nose, throat, trachea, airways; and the muscles and blood vessels related to them.
Some illnesses treated or managed by a chest physician include:
- Aspergillosis
- Asthma
- Bronchiectasis
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- COVID-19
- Cystic fibrosis
- Interstitial lung disease (pulmonary fibrosis)
- Lung cancer
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) syndrome
- Pulmonary emboli
- Tuberculosis.
But what else does a chest physician do?
They might have certain areas that they sub-specialise in, like critical care, asthma or sleep medicine.
They may request and interpret specialist tests including:
- Arterial blood gases (ABG)
- Imaging tests like chest x-rays or computed tomography (CT) scans
- Pulmonary function tests (PFTs)
- Spirometry
- Bronchoscopy, and lung biopsy
- Sleep studies.
