Lung health check for early intervention

Lung diseases – whether pertaining to the airways, lung tissue or lung circulation – are often comorbid with other conditions, such as hay fever, cardiovascular conditions and metabolic disorders.

The symptoms of many lung conditions often overlap with other diseases and can considerably influence disease prognosis, so a lung health assessment is a useful gateway to diagnosing other underlying conditions.  Our lung health check service operates with the philosophy that prevention is best, aiming for the early diagnosis and treatment of lung conditions (and their comorbidities) before they become major clinical issues.

Symptoms are often multifactorial

In the UK, around 585,000 respiratory disease diagnoses are made each year, with 50% relating to asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite these diagnoses, many lung conditions are underdiagnosed. For example, is thought that up to 50% of people with COPD are undiagnosed.

As the symptoms of a lung condition are often multifactorial, the underlying cause is not always immediately apparent. For example, the symptoms of long COVID-19 often overlap with respiratory symptoms, highlighting the importance of further diagnostics for a clearer and more accurate prognosis.

Dr Sundeep Kaul, consultant in intensive care and respiratory medicine at Harefield Hospital, explains, “The five main symptoms of a lung condition are breathlessness, cough, wheeze, chest pain, and infection. As these symptoms lend themselves to other conditions, we must always consider the patient’s full clinical history.” Our lung health check therefore acts as the initial step to identifying and diagnosing respiratory risks or other conditions at interplay.

Lung health check for early diagnosis

“We commonly see patients who have diagnosed health conditions, such as heart disease, COPD or other infections. However, many of our patients have underlying conditions and simply have symptoms; they may feel breathless, have a cough, or generally feel unwell,” explains Dr Jaymin Morjaria, consultant in respiratory medicine at Harefield Hospital.

Our lung health check is the first step to establishing our patients’ care plan or diagnosis. While our care for each patient is personalised, we will often begin by performing a set of initial tests, including blood tests, ECG and spirometry.

From there, any abnormalities will be further investigated, whether they relate to respiratory or another discipline. “Early intervention means we can provide the best patient outcome,” Dr Morjaria adds.

Personalised, multidisciplinary care

Our multi-disciplinary capabilities mean we can assign our patients to the relevant clinical pathways, whether that be respiratory, cardiovascular, hematologic, neurological, orthopaedic, etc. For example, if we discover our patient has cardiovascular requirements, we can provide a cardiac MRI, stress echocardiogram or seven-day Holter test.

We also have links to other centres, including neurology and orthopaedic centres, if our patient requires that pathway of care. “We can provide the care, coordination and oversight of our patient’s entire journey, from start to finish,” says Dr Kaul.

“We believe in a complete assessment rather than leaving unanswered questions. While our lung health check is the first step in the patient journey, we ensure the patient receives full body optimisation to target all their needs,” he adds.

If our patient requests a follow-up after their initial screening, we can offer that, too. “As we follow the patients throughout their entire journey with us, we understand their clinical history and concerns, and they trust us to provide personalised care that will offer them the best outcomes,” says Dr Kaul.

When to refer to us

We see patients with a range of symptoms, including breathlessness, cough, chest pain, palpitations, fatigue and wheeze. We are happy to see patients with long COVID-19 symptoms, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, excessive daytime sleepiness and snoring, or a general feeling of malaise.