Respiratory Conditions & Allergy Department

The Department

The MITERA Children’s Hospital Pulmonology Department has joined forces with the Allergy Department to offer comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of patients with respiratory conditions, either coupled with allergies or not. These conditions may include asthma, chronic bronchitis, recurrent pneumonia, chronic cough, bronchiectasis, congenital respiratory disorders, lung disease of prematurity, and interstitial lung disease.  Children presenting with acute, recurrent or chronic respiratory conditions may undergo the necessary medical tests on the same day, if deemed necessary. The tests include:

•  Blood tests
• Imaging of the respiratory system (conventional chest X-ray, high-resolution controlled-ventilation chest CT scan, chest MRI scan)
• Respiratory function tests (conventional spirometry before and after bronchodilation & before and after exercise, continuous-monitoring oximetry during exercise, sleep oximetry)
• Lab tests with PRC for infectious agents and genetic testing for cystic fibrosis
• Bronchoscopy, collection and analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)
• Allergy tests: assessment by allergy specialist and skin prick tests

For more affordable medical care, a comprehensive medical package is available for children over 5 years displaying asthma symptoms:

• Pulmonology assessment
• Spirometry before and after bronchodilation
• Allergy assessment
• Skin tests for the 10 most common inhaled allergens

MITERA Children’s Hospital constantly upgrades its medical equipment in its efforts to offer top-level healthcare services to its young patients. It currently offers the option of having a sweat test performed. This is the test of choice for detecting patients with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease with chronic respiratory symptoms. The test is performed using a modern and reliable method for stimulating, collecting and analyzing one’s sweat (Macroduct System with ChloroChek, Model 3400), in line with European and US standards.

Early diagnosis, and consequently early commencement of treatment, may significantly improve the quality of life and the life expectancy of children with cystic fibrosis.

The test runs for about half an hour and is accompanied by a pediatric pulmonology assessment. The results are available on the same day and there is minimum inconvenience for children and their parents.
Psychological support is also offered to children who are hospitalized frequently for respiratory conditions or to children with systematic diseases that result in respiratory complications or other manifestations. Given that prevention is very important, MITERA Children’s Hospital offers consultations to expectant mothers whose fetuses have been diagnosed with congenital respiratory conditions during prenatal screening.