Pulmonary Care
Helping you breathe more easily—chronic lung problems and conditions such as heart failure can make breathing can be a major challenge.
Common conditions that can impact your breathing include:
- Asthma
- Emphysema/COPD
- Cystic fibrosis
- Interstitial lung disease (ILD)
- Lung cancer
- Post COVID-19
- Pulmonary fibrosis
CMC’s respiratory specialists provide advance care for patients of all ages in critical, emergency, inpatient and outpatient settings. We work in conjunction with the neurophysiology lab, pulmonary function lab and the Pulmonary Fitness Rehabilitation Program at CMC to offer state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic services.
Why choose CMC?
All CMC Respiratory Services staff members are licensed by the National Board for Respiratory Care and the State of New Hampshire.
Diagnosing your condition
Depending on your symptoms, your testing may include:
- Sputum and breath specimens analysis
- Blood oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gas measurements
- Pulmonary function testing to measure lung capacity
- Stress tests and other studies of your cardiopulmonary system
- Sleep study
More indepth studies may be ordered:
- Pulmonary Function Survey
- Pulmonary function testing measures lung function through a battery of tests including simple screening spirometry, formal lung volume measurement, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and arterial blood gases.
Screening Spirometry Test
A screening spirometry test involves inhaling deeply before closing your mouth around the spirometer mouthpiece and then exhaling through the tubing while measurements are taken. The volume of air inhaled or exhaled, and the length of time each breath takes, is recorded and analyzed. A spirometry test can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, depending on the different types of breathing tests being measured.
Body Plethysmography
During body plethysmography, you sit inside a glass-walled airtight box about the size of a refrigerator call a plethysmograph. As you perform breathing exercises, the pressure in the breathing tube and box is recorded.
Range of Treatment Options
Depending on your diagnosis, your treatment could include any of the following:
- Oxygen to help with breathing
- Mechanical ventilation if you cannot breathe adequately on your own
- Therapies to help recover lung function
- Aerosol medications (nebulizers) to improve breathing and prevent respiratory infections
- Rehabilitation activities, such as low-impact aerobic exercises to improve chronic lung problems
- Smoking cessation to improve lung function
Breathing Better
"I've Come a Long Way"
Pulmonary rehabilitation helps patients struggling with lung diseases and conditions to experience a better quality of life through exercise and education. Cheryl Haggett is one of the many patients who’ve experienced that through CMC’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program.
Learn more
Stronger by the Breath
There’s a growing population of COVID-19 long-haulers, people like Walumba who survived the infection but are living with symptoms that change the way they live their lives. But with rehab and the expertise of the staff of the CMC Pulmonary Fitness Program he has hope and is feeling stronger.
Learn more
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