Pediatric Pulmonary Unit

The D. Dan & Betty Kahn Foundation Pediatric Pulmonary Institute cares for children with asthma, cystic fibrosis, and other types of lung diseases, including those who are hospitalized at Rambam’s Ruth Children's Hospital. In its new facility, the Institute handles over 4000 ambulatory visits per year, and performs a wide array of procedures, including spirometry, focusing on noninvasive assessment of preschool children, lung clearance index, exercise test; sweat test and bronchoscopies. We also serve as one of the five Israeli Cystic Fibrosis centers.

The new facility enables us to work as a multi-disciplinary team including pediatric pulmonary physicians, nurses, a dietician, a physical therapist, a psychologist, social workers, and a clinical pharmacist. With this team we try to provide a holistic approach to the child with chronic respiratory illness, and his or her family. Our mission is to improve the respiratory health of children through high quality clinical care, education, and research while always placing the child at the center of a pain free healing process.

The Institute team uses the latest technologies and techniques for diagnosis and treatment of children, including computer game-driven lung function tests, methacholine challenge tests during exercise in pre-school-age children, NO testing to detect and monitor asthma and diagnose primary ciliary dyskinesia and lung clearance index to evaluate small airway disease. The Institute team also participates in a number of leading studies in its field, including comparisons between bronchial provocation tests during exercise and methacholine challenge testing in pre-school-age children, and new approaches to lung function testing in children.

The new facility brings together advanced research and technology in a home-like environment. We have a 6 bed recovery room that serves patients after bronchoscopies and other procedures performed under anesthesia, as well as for outpatient treatments such as intravenous antibiotic therapy and pulse steroids. This helps us prevent long hospitalization times which impose significant burden on the children as well as their families