What Does a Pulmonologist Treat? Lung, Chest and Sleep Conditions

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A pulmonologist (also called a chest physician or respiratory medicine specialist) is a doctor who has trained first in general medicine and then specialised in diseases of the lungs and breathing. In India, that usually means an MD in Respiratory Medicine or Pulmonary Medicine, sometimes followed by a DM in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

In Telugu, a pulmonologist is ఊపిరితిత్తుల వైద్య నిపుణులు (a lung specialist doctor).

Pulmonologists look after both long-term conditions, like asthma and COPD, and problems that need a diagnosis first, like a shadow on a chest X-ray, a cough that won’t settle, or fluid around the lung. Many also manage patients in the ICU who need help with breathing, and some, called interventional pulmonologists, perform procedures such as bronchoscopy and EBUS.

Lung disease is more common in India than many people realise:

• Chronic lung disease: India has about 18% of the world’s population but carried 32% of the global burden of chronic respiratory disease, according to a Global Burden of Disease analysis published in The Lancet Global Health. That analysis estimated 55 million people with COPD and 38 million with asthma in India in 2016, and attributed more than half of the COPD burden to air pollution.
• Tuberculosis: India accounts for about a quarter of the world’s TB cases. WHO’s 2025 Global TB Report shows incidence falling, from 237 to 187 per lakh people between 2015 and 2024, but TB remains a common cause of cough, weight loss and fluid around the lung.

• Asthma: recurring wheeze, cough and breathlessness from inflamed, narrowed airways. Diagnosed with lung function tests and controlled with inhalers.
• COPD: long-term airflow limitation, usually from smoking, biomass smoke or air pollution. Includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
• Chronic cough: a cough lasting more than 8 weeks in adults. Common causes include asthma, postnasal drip, acid reflux and medicines.
• Bronchiectasis: permanently widened airways that collect mucus, causing repeated chest infections.
• Allergic rhinitis and respiratory allergy: nasal and airway allergy, often linked to asthma.

• Interstitial lung disease (ILD) and pulmonary fibrosis: inflammation or scarring of the lung tissue, causing breathlessness and a dry cough. More than 200 types; some are linked to autoimmune disease or exposures such as birds and moulds.
• Sarcoidosis: clusters of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in the lungs and lymph nodes, sometimes elsewhere.

• Tuberculosis, including drug-resistant TB: diagnosed with sputum tests, and with bronchoscopy when sputum is negative. Treated with a full course of medicines.
• Pneumonia: infection of the lung tissue, from bacteria, viruses or fungi.

• Lung nodules: small spots seen on a chest CT. Most are harmless; some need monitoring or a biopsy. Lung cancer is diagnosed and staged with tests such as EBUS and bronchoscopy, and treated with the oncology team.

• Pleural effusion: fluid around the lung. Common causes in India include TB, cancer, heart failure and infection.
• Pneumothorax: air around the lung, causing it to collapse partly or fully.

pleural effusion and pleural disease

• Sleep apnea: breathing that stops and starts during sleep, causing loud snoring, daytime sleepiness and raised blood pressure. Diagnosed with a sleep study.
• Snoring: often harmless, but sometimes a sign of sleep apnea.

• Breathlessness: can come from the lungs, the heart, anaemia or deconditioning; working out which is the first step.
• Coughing blood (haemoptysis): always worth investigating, even if small.

• Respiratory failure: when the lungs can’t keep oxygen or carbon dioxide at safe levels, needing oxygen, non-invasive ventilation or ICU care.

respiratory failure and ICU care

• Childhood asthma, recurrent wheezing, and snoring or sleep apnea in children.

See a pulmonologist if you have any of these:

• A cough lasting more than 3 weeks, especially with fever, weight loss or night sweats
• Breathlessness that is new, getting worse, or stops you doing things you used to do
• Wheezing or chest tightness that keeps coming back
• Coughing up blood, even a small amount
• An abnormal chest X-ray or CT, such as a nodule, a shadow or fluid
• Asthma or COPD that isn’t controlled despite regular inhalers
• Loud snoring with daytime sleepiness, or someone noticing you stop breathing in your sleep
• Repeated chest infections or pneumonia
• Before major surgery, if you have lung disease or are a heavy smoker

Go to an emergency department straight away for severe breathlessness, blue lips, chest pain, confusion, or coughing up more than a few spoonfuls of blood.

• History: your symptoms, how long they’ve lasted, smoking, work and home exposures (dust, birds, cooking smoke), medicines and family history.
• Examination: including oxygen level.
• Tests, if needed: often a spirometry (lung function) test on the same day, a chest X-ray, or a plan for a CT, sleep study or other tests.
• A plan: a diagnosis or working diagnosis, treatment, and when to come back.

lung and sleep tests

What to bring:

• All previous chest X-rays and CT scans (the reports and, if possible, the images on a CD or link)
• Previous lung function test or sleep study reports
• A list of your current medicines, and your inhalers
• Any discharge summaries from hospital stays

Dr. Kishan Srikanth Juvva is a pulmonologist with a DM in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and a Master’s in Interventional Pulmonology from the University of Florence, Italy.

about Dr. Kishan

Apollo Hospitals, Financial District Breathe Well Clinic, Kondapur