Reference Center for Adults Rare Lung Diseases
Reference Center for Adults Rare Lung Diseases of the Vilnius University Hospital (VUH) Santaros Klinikos is based on the Pulmonology and Allergology Center with a joint team of doctors from various fields working in other departments of the clinic (pulmonologists, radiologists, laboratory diagnostics, pathologists, chest surgeons, geneticists , a team of hematologists). Doctors working in other structural units of VUH Santaros Klinikos specialize in the field of radiological, laboratory and interventional diagnostics of patients with lung diseases.
The Center for Pulmonology and Allergology, as the structural basis of the Reference Center for Adults Rare Lung Diseases, consists of the following departments:
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Department of Pulmonology and Allergology;
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Department of Interventional Pulmonology and Respiratory Functional Diagnostics;
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Pulmonologist consultation room;
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Allergist consultation room;
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Day hospital for diagnosis and treatment of allergic and immune diseases;
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Day hospital for lung and pleural tumor chemotherapy.
The Center of Pulmonology and Allergology has been actively examining and treating patients with interstitial lung diseases and conducting scientific work since 1997. The center has accumulated the largest experience in the diagnosis and treatment of such patients in Lithuania and Europe.
Reference Center for Adults Rare Lung Diseases has become an affiliated member of the European Reference Network ERN-LUNG since 2019.
The Center of Pulmonology and Allergology is a leader in the field of innovative research in Lithuania. Our center was the first to introduce bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) into clinical practice in 1997.
The first bronchoscopic lung biopsy was performed for a patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 1998. The specialists of the Pulmonology and Allergology Center were the first in Lithuania who perform bronchoscopic lung cryobiopsies for patients with interstitial lung diseases.
The Center of Pulmonology and Allergology diagnoses, treats and monitors several hundred patients with rare and very rare lung diseases every year (interstitial lung diseases - sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, idiopathic non-specific interstitial pneumonia, exogenous allergic alveolitis, pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis, pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, eosinophilic pneumonia , Langerhans cell histiocytosis, etc.; other very rare malignant and benign lung diseases - inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, dendriform lung ossification, lung pyogenic granuloma, lung plasma cell granuloma, cystic fibrosis, etc.)
The Pulmonology and Allergology Center has the greatest traditions of multidisciplinary patient consultation. For 30 years every Wednesday from 1 p.m. in The Center of Pulmonology and Allergology, multidisciplinary doctors' councils are held, in which pulmonologists, radiologists, thoracic surgeons, doctors of laboratory medicine and other specialists participate.
The Center of Pulmonology and Allergology has all modern equipment for precise diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases. About 50 cryobiopsies, about 150 EBUS and R-EBUS biopsies, over 3,000 fibrobronchoscopies, bronchoalveolar lavage and other procedures are performed annually.
The most important topics of scientific research:
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Bronchiectasis (cystic fibrosis and other origins).
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Interstitial lung diseases (sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, organizing pneumonia, eosinophilic pneumonia, exogenous allergic alveolitis, etc.).
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Neuromuscular diseases.
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Pulmonary hypertension.
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Rare neoplastic lung diseases.
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Severe bronchial asthma.
The center has created a unique monitoring system that collects data on newly diagnosed cases, monitors the course of the patients' disease and evaluates the effectiveness of treatment. Collected data is analyzed and constantly updated. The center cooperates with various pulmonology centers and clinics in Lithuania and other countries. Among them - the pulmonology clinic of the University of Greifswald (Germany).
