Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine

The Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine was initially established as the Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders, a separate super specialty department at AIIMS, New Delhi, in May 2011. The institute later changed the name to its current name, keeping the department's mandate in terms of training and services.

Prof. Randeep Guleria was the founder and First Head of the department and laid the foundation for establishing the facilities and services the department currently provides. As of date, the department has seven faculty members. The department has an ongoing DM (Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine) training program and a Ph.D. program. Currently, there are 15 positions for DM students and six seats for Non-Academic Senior Residents in the Department.

The department has a nine-bed Pulmonary Medicine ward and an eight-bed Pulmonary Medicine Intensive Care Unit. We also have a large daycare unit providing support for Chemotherapy for lung cancer patients and various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Care is offered to patients suffering from various respiratory ailments. The ICU caters to patients suffering from acute respiratory issues. It has advanced facilities, including Point-of-care Ultrasound (POCUS), Neurally adjusted ventilator assist (NAVA) ventilators, and Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Laboratory facilities include a Pulmonary function testing laboratory (PFT), allergy testing laboratory, biochemistry laboratory (Serum ACE level and body fluid ADA levels), Sleep Laboratory, and Bronchoscopy laboratory.

Advanced Interventional Pulmonology facilities are being provided, including Endobronchial Ultrasound-Guided Transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA and EUS-B-FNA), Medical thoracoscopy, therapeutic rigid bronchoscopic airway procedures, Airway Stenting, Endobronchial Electrocautery, and Cryotherapy. The department also provides facilities for navigational bronchoscopy and bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma. Regarding flexible diagnostic bronchoscopy, procedures like transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), Bronchoscopic Lung Biopsy, Endobronchial Biopsy, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) are being routinely performed. More than 2500 bronchoscopic procedures are performed in the department every year. The department also provides simulator-based training in flexible bronchoscopy, EBUS-TBNA, and rigid bronchoscopy.

The department has well-equipped sleep laboratories which provide comprehensive Polysomnography services. This includes full-night polysomnography, split-night polysomnography, PAP titration, actigraphy, and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT).

The pulmonary function testing laboratory (PFT) has facilities for spirometry, diffusion capacity testing, and lung volume assessment using body plethysmography. More than 10000 procedures are being done yearly in the lung function laboratory. Advanced lung function testing facilities such as fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), Impulse Oscillometry for airway disease, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) are also available. Pulmonary rehabilitation services are routinely provided to indoor and outdoor patients with a dedicated pulmonary rehabilitation service for patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation studies are also being done for patients with suspected diaphragmatic dysfunction.

In allergy medicine, the department provides facilities for total serum IgE, Aspergillus-specific IgE, IgG testing, and skin prick testing. This helps evaluate patients with bronchial asthma, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.