Lung Health Program in Wesley Chapel

Flexible bronchoscopy
During this exam, a flexible scope is moved through your main airways while you’re under general anesthesia. With video images, your care team can evaluate your airways for abnormalities. They can also suction secretions and collect samples, if needed.

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
During BAL, sterile saline is injected through the working channel of the bronchoscope and into a specific segment of your lung. The fluid is then aspirated back out of your lung for testing, so we can diagnose conditions including inflammation, infection, cancer or bleeding.

Lung biopsy
Biopsies, which can be performed with a needle, forceps or cryoprobe to extract a tissue sample, can help your care team detect inflammation, cancer or infection.

Endobronchial ultrasound system (EBUS)
The EBUS system uses a flexible bronchoscope with a built-in ultrasound to view structures outside your airway wall. Using the ultrasound imaging as a guide, a needle can be passed through the working channel and into the abnormal structure to take samples to detect inflammation, infection or cancer.

Image-guided bronchoscopy (navigational or robotic)
Image-guided bronchoscopy allows your doctors to access hard-to-reach locations in the lung in the most minimally invasive way possible. A copy of your computed tomography (CT) imaging is uploaded to an encrypted computer software system to guide the bronchoscope to the abnormality.

Rigid bronchoscopy
In a rigid bronchoscopy, a long metal tube (the rigid bronchoscope) is navigated through your windpipe and main airways to provide video images that can help your care team rule out or diagnose lung conditions. The large diameter of this bronchoscope also makes it possible for your doctor to use larger instruments, when needed, for certain treatments.

Balloon bronchoplasty
To alleviate symptoms and make it easier for you to breathe, your pulmonologist may recommend balloon bronchoplasty. During this procedure, we’ll insert a catheter that allows us to use a balloon designed to help dilate your airway.

Airway stent (bronchial stent)
When balloon dilation is not enough, your doctor may need to place an airway stent. Some stents are permanent. But, in most cases, they are temporarily placed to alleviate an obstruction.

Tumor debulking
Both lung and metastatic cancers can invade your airways and make it difficult to breathe. Your doctor may use various tools such as laser bronchoscopy, argon plasma coagulation, cryotherapy and mechanical debulking to surgically remove as much of your tumor as possible.

Bronchial thermoplasty
For people who have a hard time controlling their asthma with traditional therapies, bronchial thermoplasty may offer relief. By applying heat to different airways, we can often lessen the constriction during asthma attacks.

ILLUMISITE™ Platform by Medtronic
With the ILLUMISITE™ Platform by Medtronic at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, state-of-the-art lung navigation technology is close to home. This technology can help diagnose lung lesions and localize lung nodules for biopsy through electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (commonly referred to as ENB) with tomosynthesis enhancements.

Using the ILLUMISITE™ Platform, our team can perform minimally invasive procedures that reach even the tiniest suspicious lung. We can sample multi-directionally for a thorough biopsy and potentially improved outcomes.

Ion Endoluminal System by Intuitive
Ion is a robotic-assisted endoluminal platform for minimally invasive peripheral lung biopsy. The system features an ultra-thin, ultra-maneuverable catheter that allows navigation far into the peripheral lung and gives our team unprecedented stability for biopsies.

During a procedure using the Ion system, a physician will insert the Ion fully articulating catheter into the patient’s lung via the mouth and throat through an endotracheal tube, which may reduce the chance of complications associated with traditional, needle-based biopsy approaches.

Ion’s ability to navigate to small nodules and enable precise biopsies may help patients get answers sooner, affording more time to consider treatment options.

Zephyr^® Endobronchial Valve System

For patients who live with severe COPD or emphysema, the Zephyr^® Endobronchial Valve System, also called the Zephyr Valve, is a treatment option that improves the patient's lung function, exercise capacity, and quality of life.

During a minimally invasive bronchoscopy procedure — meaning no incisions — a doctor implants the valves in the airways of the lungs. These valves allow the healthy parts of the lungs to expand, relieving pressure off the diaphragm to enhance breathing.

The Zephyr Valve allows trapped air to escape the lungs and prevents new air from entering the diseased lobe. This helps the healthier parts of the lung to function better, so patients can breathe more easily and experience less shortness of breath.

This procedure takes less than an hour, and because it’s completed without incisions, it avoids many of the risks of traditional surgical options.