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800-836-7536
800-836-7536
Tracheobronchomalacia means the walls of your windpipe or airways are weak and collapse when you breathe, which can cause severe breathlessness and a chronic cough that gets treated as asthma or COPD for years. It’s uncommon enough that many centers rarely see it. Temple is a national referral center for TBM, and our team evaluates and treats it specifically, including surgical repair for the right patients. If your breathing problems have never fully added up, request an appointment.
Tracheobronchomalacia means the walls of your windpipe or airways are weak and collapse when you breathe, which can cause severe breathlessness and a chronic cough that gets treated as asthma or COPD for years. It’s uncommon enough that many centers rarely see it. Temple is a national referral center for TBM, and our team evaluates and treats it specifically, including surgical repair for the right patients. If your breathing problems have never fully added up, request an appointment.
The symptoms overlap heavily, which is why it’s so often missed. In TBM the airway itself collapses during breathing rather than narrowing from inflammation, so inhalers that help asthma or COPD often don’t do much. Diagnosis usually needs dynamic imaging or a scope that watches the airway while you breathe. That distinction changes the treatment completely.
It depends on how severe the collapse is and how much it affects your breathing. Some patients do well with treatment of related conditions and airway support. For significant TBM, surgical repair to stabilize the airway can make a substantial difference, and our team has particular experience with it. We’ll evaluate you thoroughly first and explain honestly whether surgery is likely to help.
A Team That Sees Complex Lung Disease Every Day
The Temple Lung Center cares for more than 2,000 interstitial lung disease patients a year, with more than 30 years of experience. People come from across the region and around the country for answers they could not find closer to home. That volume matters, because rare and hard-to-diagnose lung conditions are what our team does routinely rather than occasionally.
A Faster, Less Invasive Path to a Diagnosis
Most of our ILD patients are diagnosed without a surgical biopsy. Our team uses a detailed intake questionnaire to surface exposures and triggers, pairs it with high-resolution imaging, and reviews cases every other week in a meeting where pulmonologists, thoracic radiologists, rheumatologists, and other specialists work through each patient together.
Treatments and Trials Many Hospitals Cannot Offer
Research leadership turns into real access for patients. The Lung Center was the top US recruitment site for a major phase 3 trial in pulmonary fibrosis, is a designated Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation clinical research center, and is the largest contributor to the national IPF registry. And as home to one of the nation’s most active lung transplant programs, we offer a direct path to advanced therapy if it is ever needed.
Expect more from your lung care. Request an appointment with a specialist. Call us at 800-TEMPLE-MED or complete the appointment form.
3509 N. Broad Street
Boyer Pavilion, 6th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19140
7600 Central Ave
Patient Care Center, 1st Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19111
Medical Office Building
8815 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19118
450 Cresson Boulevard
Suite 200
Phoenixville, PA 1946