Respiratory Medicine (Lungs)

Also known as chest medicine, this field of internal medicine concerns with the studies and therapy of diseases of the respiratory system. The respiratory system starts from the nose and ends in the millions of small air sacs in the lungs called alveoli. Common and important diseases include bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), pneumonia, tuberculosis and cancer of the lungs. Respiratory physicians perform fibreoptic bronchoscopies to look inside the lungs in order to get tissue and secretions for the diagnosis of diseases like lung cancer and infectious diseases.