Pulmonary, Asthma & Sleep Medicine Conditions We Treat

Our team—the largest in California—has experience treating every pediatric lung condition, from the routine to the rare. We are here to help your child with a combination of proven treatments and compassionate care.

Accidents

If your child has swallowed something that chokes them or makes it difficult for them to breathe, we’re here to help. We can also care for your child if he or she was exposed to toxic substances like gasoline fumes or other hydrocarbons, which can cause damage to his or her lungs or airways.

Our team can help diagnose and treat these problems by performing flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy, using a long tube with a camera, called a bronchoscope. This procedure can be done on an outpatient or inpatient basis and does not require anesthesia. We can also suggest specialized imaging studies that may be needed.

Asthma

Our team of experts works to correctly diagnose and treat children of all ages with mild, moderate, and severe asthma. Asthma can often be misdiagnosed, but our team of pediatric pulmonologists has decades of experience diagnosing and treating asthma and many other lung conditions. If your child is diagnosed with asthma, we work with your child and family to manage it from multiple angles.

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)

Many premature infants suffer from chronic lung damage and respiratory distress syndrome that, with the proper medications and treatments, often heals as they grow. If your child has bronchopulmonary dysplasia, our team offers at-home oxygen support and nutrition counseling, as well as a variety of medical treatments. We work closely with neonatologists in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to develop the best treatment plans for when the babies go home with their families. If your child has BPD and pulmonary hypertension (PH) or has a risk of developing PH, our Cardiac and Respiratory Care for Infants with BPD Program provides seamless, long-term care from neonatologists, pulmonologists, and cardiologists from the Betty Irene Moore Children’s Heart Center.

Cystic fibrosis (CF)

CF mainly affects the lungs and the digestive systems in the body, causing problems with breathing and digesting foods. A chronic disease that currently has no cure, CF is one of the most common—and serious—genetic (inherited) diseases in America. We have the largest program in Northern California to help kids with this disease.

Interstitial lung disease

Interstitial lung disease is a general term for a group of rare lung disorders that make it hard to breathe. Many of these diseases can be difficult to diagnose and manage, and they can affect people at any age.

Lung transplants

For some children, a lung transplant may be a life-saving solution. Our transplant team has the highest success rate for pediatric lung transplants in the world, and we have the only pediatric lung transplant program on the West Coast.

Neuromuscular diseases

If your child has difficulty breathing or prolonged respiratory illnesses, the cause may be respiratory insufficiency and muscle weakness caused by a neuromuscular disorder like muscular dystrophy or congenital myopathy. Our team can perform lung function testing, help improve sleep quality, and provide nutrition counseling, assisted ventilation, airway exams, and lung imaging.

Sleep problems

Our team provides a comprehensive range of evaluations and treatments for children from birth through adolescence who experience sleepiness or sleeplessness. We diagnose and treat everything from common conditions like sleep apnea to complex conditions with associated sleep problems.

Other rare lung diseases

Our large, experienced team has the expertise to safely and effectively treat any and all rare lung diseases. This includes inherited or hereditary lung diseases like primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and congenital lung conditions like bronchogenic cysts, congenital cystic adenomatoid malformations, lobar emphysema, and pulmonary sequestrations.

Complications from other diseases

Certain muscle and skeletal disorders such as scoliosis and multiple sclerosis can cause problems with the lungs. Sometimes a child's diaphragm does not rise and fall properly, making it difficult or impossible for a child to breathe on his own.

We work with orthopaedic surgeons, rehabilitation specialists and surgeons to treat children with these complications from musculoskeletal diseases.

We also treat children who have complications from pneumonia and other acute respiratory illnesses such as RSV (respiratory synctial virus). In some cases, the illness was so severe that some of the lung tissue has died or there is scar tissue in the lung. Through treatments such as broncoscopy, surgery and exercise programs, as well as other treatments, we help children recover from complicated pneumonia and other severe respiratory illnesses.

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