“We had a young person in the intensive care unit – or ICU – who was involved in a car accident that resulted in a major abdominal injury, requiring her to be on full life support,” recalls Dr. Kunal Patel, a pulmonologist and intensivist – along with colleague Dr. Srikanth Davuluri – at Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital.
“As intensivists, we run the ICU where we treat the most critically ill patients in the hospital,” Dr. Patel says. “We also help manage emergencies that happen while patients are hospitalized.”
“Patients in the ICU are often on multiple layers of life support: a ventilator to help them breathe, other machines for their heart, strong medications to manage their blood pressure, and so on,” Dr. Patel says. “Some patients are in the ICU for a few days; some for weeks.”
“In the case of the young woman who was on full life support following a car accident, we were able to stabilize her in the ICU so her surgeon could safely perform the necessary surgery,” Dr. Patel says. “The day after surgery, we were able to get her off the ventilator. By day three, she was walking and eating again, and on the way to a successful recovery.”
“We have implemented a program to have someone from our team with expertise in lung care in the ICU twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” Dr. Davuluri says. “Now we’re seeing patients who undergo major surgery spend less time on a ventilator and have better outcomes.”
Dr. Davuluri
Lung cancer early detection and treatment
“As pulmonologists, we diagnose and treat patients who need lung care while they’re in the hospital, as well as in our clinic to help patients manage chronic breathing problems,” Dr. Patel says.
“This year, we launched a program to identify patients who we know are at higher risk of developing lung cancer – patients who are smokers over the age of fifty, for example,” Dr. Davuluri says. “These patients often develop lung nodules – small, dense areas of lung tissue – that can become cancerous.”
“First, we work with these patients and their primary doctors to help them quit smoking,” Dr. Patel says. “Then, their primary doctor gives them regular screenings, looking for the formation of one or more nodules in either or both lungs.”
“When we see one of these nodules show up on a patient’s screening,” Dr. Davuluri says, “we can perform what’s called an advanced robotic bronchoscopy – a minimally-invasive technique we use to get a small bit of tissue for a biopsy.”
“In the not-too-distant past,” Dr. Patel says, “a patient had to go to a hospital at a university or in a major urban area for this procedure. Now we perform it right here, close to home.”
“If the biopsy finds the tissue is cancerous,” Dr. Davuluri says, “we can quickly send the patient to surgery for removal of the tumor while it’s still small and hasn’t spread.”
“We recently treated a woman with a tiny lung nodule that she had been aware of for several years,” Dr. Davuluri says. “An initial biopsy of the nodule came back negative for cancer, but I wasn’t convinced, and she trusted me when I suggested that we remove the nodule anyway. After we removed it, the nodule tested positive for cancer. Now the patient is so relieved, so happy. If she had waited another few months, it probably would have spread, and she would have had to deal with chemotherapy and radiation,” Dr. Davuluri says.
Dr. Patel
Advances in treating other chronic breathing problems
“There are also many newer treatments available now for managing another serious lung condition: asthma,” Dr. Patel says. “As a result, people with asthma are having better success controlling it. And now we’re exploring how some of these new asthma medicines may also help patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – commonly known as COPD,” Dr. Patel says.
“In addition, I've been practicing sleep medicine for many years, treating both adults and children with a variety of sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, and others,” Dr. Davuluri says. “We are able to treat sleep apnea patients with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure – or CPAP machines. But we also prescribe the hypoglossal nerve implant – more commonly known as Inspire, the name of the company that developed the technology. This device helps control sleep apnea in patients who are unable to use a CPAP machine,” Dr. Davuluri says.
A higher level of care
“Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital offers patients a level of care and support you won't find in many other community hospitals,” Dr. Patel says, “from making it fast and easy for patients to see their doctors, to providing leading edge treatments, procedures, and medications. The staff is very helpful and friendly, and patients really appreciate that,” Dr. Patel says. “It’s one of the reasons so many patients in our Kenosha County communities choose us for their care.”
“And when we come across an especially challenging case – such as a lung transplant or other extraordinarily complex condition,” Dr. Davuluri says “we quickly connect the patient with our colleagues at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin who have the know-how and experience they need.”
“I want patients to feel that I gave them enough time to tell me about their issues,” Dr. Patel says. “Knowing that we did everything we could to provide the highest level of care for our patient, while making sure they understand what's going on, and that they were offered the best options and the best care as quickly as possible. That’s what gives me a feeling of satisfaction,” Dr. Patel says.
“Seeing a patient’s smile, or feeling their handshake after diagnosing their cancer early and giving them a better chance of successful treatment,” Dr. Davuluri says, “or enabling them to breathe freely again, or get a good night’s sleep after battling sleep disorders for decades. That’s what makes me incredibly happy.”
Lung disease in America
According to the American Lung Association:
- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
- About every two minutes, someone in the U.S. learns they have lung cancer
- Every day, lung cancer takes the lives of more than 342 of our friends, neighbors and loved ones
- More than 34 million people in the U.S. live with a chronic lung disease like asthma or COPD
- Asthma affects 26.8 million Americans, including 4.5 million children, and accounts for millions of emergency department visits and tens of billions of dollars in healthcare costs each year
- About 11.7 million people, or 4.6% of adults, have been diagnosed with COPD
