Current status and prospects of interventional pulmonology in China

Interventional pulmonology is a newly developed medical discipline devoted to the performance of diagnosis and invasive therapy of respiratory diseases.The professional field of this discipline refers to diagnosis and staging of respiratory diseases,and focuses on treatment of pulmonary tumors,benign or malignant airway stenosis,pleural disease and pulmonary vascular diseases.So far,huge strides have been made in interventional pulmonology,and therefore some distinct features have been developed in China.Prevalent and common diseases,such as lung cancer,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and asthma,will hereafter be the foci of interventional pulmonary in China.