Interventional pulmonology is a specialty that uses advanced, minimally invasive diagnostic tests and procedures for lung, airway, and chest conditions. Saint Luke’s has a team of fellowship-trained interventional pulmonologists.

For referring providers, use this helpful resource to get started.

Conditions we treat

Our interventional pulmonology team cares for patients with a variety of pulmonary symptoms and conditions including:

  • Throat, lung, and chest cancers
  • Lung nodules and masses
  • Enlarged lymph nodes
  • Fluid buildup around the lungs
  • Narrowing of the trachea
  • Central airway obstruction
  • Emphysema
  • COPD
  • Severe asthma
  • Foreign body aspiration

Benefits

An interventional pulmonologist uses minimally invasive tools and procedures, which allows patients to avoid riskier procedures such as chest wall surgery.

For example, an interventional pulmonologist can diagnose and stage a tumor in the same procedure. This eliminates the need for a more invasive biopsy and gives patients more information about their cancer diagnosis immediately after a procedure.

An interventional pulmonologist also is trained to safely remove tumors or blockages in the airways common with lung cancer, improving a person’s chance of survival and quality of life.

Procedures

Therapeutic

  • Rigid bronchoscopy
  • Fully covered and uncovered self-expandable stents
  • Silicone stents
  • Stent removal
  • Electrocautery and argon plasma coagulation
  • Photodynamic therapy
  • Cryotherapy (standard and spray delivery)
  • Foreign body removal
  • Microdebrider
  • Balloon bronchoplasty
  • Bronchial thermoplasty
  • Endobronchial valves for emphysema and bronchopleural fistulas

Advanced diagnostic

  • Navigational bronchoscopy
  • Radial endobronchial ultrasound
  • Transbronchial cryobiopsy

Pleural procedures

  • Medical thoracoscopy
  • Indwelling pleural catheters (Pleurex)
  • Thoracentesis
  • Chest tubes

Providers

Matthew C Aboudara, MD

Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine

Timothy Michael Saettele, MD

Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care Medicine

News

Aug. 26, 2021

KCTV: Saint Luke's offers low dose lung cancer screenings

Since the start of the pandemic, Saint Luke's has seen more late-stage cancers in patients. Preventive cancer screenings are a key step in finding cancers early, starting treatment, and better outcomes.
Doctors holding x-ray of lungs
Dec. 12, 2019

Saint Luke’s News: Interventional Pulmonology: The new sub-specialty that’s catching lung cancer early in Kansas City

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, but more men and women are surviving the cancer than ever before. Dr. Tim Saettele and Dr. Matthew Aboudara explain how a new field of medicine is helping to diagnose it early.