Programs & Centers Jo-Ann F. LeBuhn Center

The Jo-Ann F. LeBuhn Center is a state of the art facility for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disease. Located in the Herbert Irving Pavilion at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, the Center features computerized testing and data retrieval, an enhanced exercise physiology laboratory, and on-site examination and treatment rooms, as well as access to other hospital services.

History of Pulmonary Excellence

Long at the forefront of both treatment of pulmonary disease and research into the causes of chronic pulmonary illness, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia's involvement in pulmonary medicine began with its affiliation with the Bellevue Hospital Chest Service, which was an educational center and clinic to treat tuberculosis.

Over the years, Columbia's Chest Service at Bellevue accomplished important and pioneering research. Perhaps the most significant was that of Dr Eleanor d. F. Baldwin, Dr. Andre Cournand, and Dr. Dickinson W. Richards, Jr., who viewed the heart and lungs as a single unit in their work to find the causes of various pulmonary diseases. As a result, Drs. Cournand and Richards won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1956 for introducing cardiac catheterization to assess abnormal heart function.

Many respected physicians from hospitals in the United States and overseas completed their training at Columbia's Chest Service at Bellevue. As a result, its impact on pulmonary medicine has been both national and international in scope.

In 2000, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia established its own Pulmonary Division to treat patients, train pulmonary specialists, and conduct research. Today, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is the premier referral center in New York City for lung and heart transplants. Its pulmonary medicine and chest surgery fellowship programs are among the most competitive in the nation.

State-of-the-Art Medicine

The LeBuhn Center enables NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia to continue its high level of clinical research while providing enhanced care for approximately 5,000 pulmonary patients each year.

The Pulmonary Division pioneered the use of radiation and chemotherapy together prior to surgery for lung cancer patients. Major clinical studies have included research into pulmonary vascular abnormalities caused by chronic lung disease, development of animal models of immunologic lung injury, and studies of pulmonary circulation regulation by vasoactive peptides. Application of pulmonary cellular and molecular biology techniques are currently examining asthma, cystic fibrosis, and pulmonary fibrosis.

Also receiving global attention is lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), an exciting alternative method for treating patients with severe end-stage emphysema. NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is one of only a few hospitals in the country where this surgery is successfully performed.

Team Approach

Patients at the LeBuhn Center receive treatment from pulmonary specialists and thoracic surgeons, as well as anesthesiologists, radiologists, rehabilitation specialists, and other intensive care staff. These specialists work together not only to provide superior patient care, but also to serve an important teaching role for physicians-in-training from NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and around the world.

A team of pulmonary physicians follows the care of each patient from the initial visit through hospitalization, surgery, and subsequent rehabilitation. Consultations with appropriate specialists are arranged as needed to provide the best individualized treatment for patients.

Treatment Areas

• Lung Failure: Emphysema is one of the major causes of lung failure and medical treatment has only a limited effect in this disease. Physicians at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia have embarked on new surgical procedures—including lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS)—that are leading to significant improvements in the lung function of afflicted patients.
• Lung Transplantation: The NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Lung Disease and Transplantation at Columbia University Medical Center is the most active transplant center in the New York region. Recognizing that opportunistic infections are a common problem for transplant patients, researchers at the Center are working to find new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat these complications.
• Tuberculosis (TB) and Other Lung Infections: The dramatic rise in the number of TB cases, in part because of HIV infection, has led the Thoracic Service and the Division of Infectious Diseases to offer one of the first combined services for patients with tuberculosis and other lung infections.
• Asthma: There has been a significant increase in the incidence of asthma in urban areas. Researchers at the LeBuhn Center are investigating the causes as well as the most effective treatments of the disease.
• Cancer: Lung cancer, still a major health concern, is one of the targets of research at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia. The diagnosis of lung cancer is improving through the use of PET (positron emission tomography), CT, and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans. Use of these advanced diagnostic tools, as well as other therapeutic advances, makes us one of the preeminent diagnostic and treatment centers for lung cancer.
• Neuromuscular Respiratory Disease: Our physicians work in association with the neurologists and neurosurgeons of the Neurological Institute to achieve expertise in dealing with the respiratory complications of various neurological diseases, including myasthenia gravis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition, the development of an innovative surgical approach to thymectomy by Dr Alfred Jaretzki has played a major role in the management of myasthenia gravis.