About Paediatric Pulmonology

drPaediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children and adolescents. The age limit varies from country to country but in most countries is from birth up until the age of 16 or 18. A physician who specializes in working with children and infants is referred to as a paediatrician. The word Paediatrics is derived from two Greek words which directly translated mean “healer of children”.

Pulmonology on the other hand is a specialized field of medicine which deals with disease involving the respiratory tract. The term is derived from the Latin word ‘pulmo’ which translated means “lung” – put the two together and you get Paediatric Pulmonology – ‘healer of children’s lungs”

Pulmonology is often referred to as chest or respiratory and is considered to be a branch of internal medicine and is directly related to intensive care. In most cases patients need life support or mechanical ventilation as they may not be able to breathe for themselves.

Paediatric Pulmonologists are specially trained in lung diseases and chest conditions such as emphysema, pneumonia, asthma, turberculosis and a range of other chest infections. In all cases, the correct medication is the most important treatment of most lung diseases. In older patients, a thoracic surgeon can open the chest cavity and take samples from the lungs but in infants and children this is only done in extreme cases.

The correct diagnosis coupled with the correct medication can drastically improve the quality of a patient’s life.