Personalized Asthma Care from Pulmonary Experts
Asthma is a condition with many different causes. In general, though, it’s when air passages in the lungs swell up, making it harder to breathe. Although primary care physicians can often help manage asthma, some cases require a more collaborative approach that includes specialized expertise.
The team of pulmonary experts at University Hospitals combines years of experience, specialized training and innovative asthma treatments to help manage asthma, especially if it’s moderate to severe, including:
- Diagnostic tests to determine the health of your lungs
- Create a personalized action plan, including advanced treatment options when necessary
- Start a pulmonary rehabilitation program to lower the chances of further pulmonary or breathing problems
- Offer new therapies through focused research and clinical trials
Your Trusted Source for Advanced Asthma Care
Many patients respond to traditional asthma treatments such as inhalers and medicines that relax the muscles around the airways. But some people suffer from severe asthma symptoms that won’t go away — not even with asthma medication, including inhalers. These symptoms include constant shortness of breath, wheezing, trouble talking, coughing, sleep issues and persistent colds.
Our pulmonary specialists understand the impact of such symptoms on your quality of life. That’s why University Hospitals provides a dedicated pulmonary rehabilitation program.
Our team helps patients:
- Find relief from symptoms such as shortness of breath, labored breathing and fatigue
- Learn breathing techniques to reduce asthma-related anxiety
- Boost their exercise routines, stamina and ability to perform daily activities
- Understand the proper use of inhalers and other devices
- Learn respiratory hygiene to cut back on infections
- Increase awareness of asthma and its management
Ultimately, our team helps our patients overcome the challenges of living with asthma and improve their quality of life.
Innovative Treatment: Bronchial Thermoplasty
Severe asthma requires special treatment. University Hospitals offers a cutting-edge procedure for the most challenging asthma cases called bronchial thermoplasty. This safe, minimally invasive treatment is proven to clear airways and calm asthma symptoms. Bronchial thermoplasty is an outpatient procedure performed over three separate sessions. During each session, the person with asthma is put to sleep. Then, we use a special electrode to heat the airways. This reduces the size of the muscles associated with blocked breathing and lessens the airway’s ability to tighten. This procedure typically results in easier breathing and fewer asthma attacks.
Accurate Asthma Diagnosis
Our pulmonary diagnostic specialists will help you understand if you have asthma, or something else. University Hospitals uses all the appropriate diagnostic lung tests to evaluate patients’ lung health for an accurate diagnosis. Diagnostic tests may include:
- Airways responsiveness: Our team will measure how your airways respond to asthma triggers.
- Allergy: Asthma plus allergies equals extra treatment challenges. We draw blood or perform skin-prick tests to check for allergies to then determine the most appropriate allergy induced asthma treatment plan.
- Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO): When someone is allergic to something they’ve breathed in, their airways get inflamed - and they breathe out a gas called nitric oxide. A FeNO test measures the amount of nitric oxide you exhale.
- Peak flow: A peak flow test helps us find out how well your lungs are functioning. Using a small, handheld plastic tube, you take a deep breath in then blow it out as fast as you can. A peak flow test can be done at University Hospitals or at home to keep track of asthma symptoms and treatment progress.
- Spirometry: A spirometry test requires you to take a deep breath and then blow into a device called a spirometer. It shows how much air you blow out, and how quickly.
Your Partner in Lung Health
No matter where you are on your journey with asthma, our University Hospitals pulmonary care team is ready to help – at a range of convenient locations. Together, we can manage your lung health for improved quality of life.