Category FAQs Search : Rare Lung Diseases
Question: How do healthcare providers treat rare lung diseases?
Answer: Providers often treat rare lung diseases with medications used to treat other conditions. Treatments usually help slow the progression of the disease rather than cure it. Depending on the pulmonary disease, treatments may include:
1. Airway clearance therapy to treat cystic fibrosis by loosening mucus from your airways.
2. Bronchodilators, inhalers that clear mucus from your lungs to make breathing easier.
3. Medications, such as corticosteroids, immune-suppressing drugs, antibiotics and enzymes. These drugs can make it easier for you to breathe.
4. Oxygen therapy, providing extra oxygen through a mask or tube in your nostrils to make breathing easier and improve your sleep.
5. Whole-lung lavage, where a provider inserts a tube with saline into your lungs to clean them. Whole-lung lavage treats pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP).
People with severe lung disease may need lung transplant surgery. A transplant is an option if other treatments don’t help. This surgery may prolong your life.
(Source: Cleveland Clinic, 31 Jan 2026)
Source Link: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21684-rare-lung-diseases