This service provides tertiary level planned and unplanned inpatient and outpatient services for the management of adults with moderate to high complexity respiratory conditions.
Lung cancer
The Respiratory Medicine Service offers a rapid comprehensive service to coordinate the diagnostic and staging workup for patients with suspected thoracic malignancies. Read more about lung cancer (Healthy WA).
It includes a twice-weekly Fast Track Lung Cancer Clinic and a weekly Pleural Clinic that provide a diagnostic and therapeutic service for patients with either early or advanced thoracic malignancy.
The service team coordinate the patient’s initial journey and arrange the appropriate treatment referrals. They work in close collaboration with other FSH specialities including medical/radiation oncology, cardiothoracic surgery, medical imaging and pathology, and the WA Cancer and Palliative Care Network.
Pleural Medicine Unit
This sub-specialist unit offers a comprehensive range of services to inpatients and outpatients experiencing a range of pleural disorders. The services of the unit include consultation/procedures for:
- investigation of undiagnosed pleural effusion
- diagnostic and therapeutic medical thoracoscopy
- management of malignant pleural effusion including indwelling pleural catheter
- management of pleural infection
- management of primary/secondary pneumothorax
- outpatient imaging guided thoracocentesis.
The unit is also actively involved in clinical research and is an international collaborator for pleural research involving clinical trials for patients with malignant pleural effusion, pleural infection and pneumothorax.
Severe Airways and Bronchiectasis Disease Clinics
These clinics provide a multi-disciplinary service for patients with complex airways diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and/or bronchiectasis.
The aim is to provide each patient with an individualised management plan including optimal inhaler therapy, consideration for immunological or non-pharmacological therapy for asthma or COPD and/or participation in clinical trials for new treatments for airways disease.
The clinic also offers medical and nursing support for patients with frequent and/or recurrent exacerbations.
Interventional Bronchoscopy
The use of innovative interventional techniques via flexible or rigid bronchoscopy for management of a variety of pulmonary and airway disorders is provided by a collaborative group of physicians within the Respiratory Medicine Service. These techniques include:
- endobronchial cryotherapy
- endobronchial electrocautery/activated plasma coagulation
- foreign body removal
- endobronchial dilatation
- endobronchial stent insertion/removal
- endobronchial valves for LVRS + bronchopleural fistulae
- parenchymal cryobiopsy.