COPD Clinic Overview

When you come to Mayo Clinic for help with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you'll find a team of experts who take the time to listen to your concerns and consider every aspect of your care. This team of specialists provides coordinated, comprehensive care for COPD and related conditions, including a rare genetic form of emphysema that is often unrecognized — alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

A team focused on you

COPD and related conditions can have serious and long-term effects on your quality of life. They can become progressively worse, even fatal, if not properly treated. It's important that you get appropriate care to treat your symptoms and prolong your life. The multispecialty team of the COPD Clinic includes experts in lung disease (Pulmonary Medicine), Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Lung Transplant, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Psychology and Psychiatry, and the Nicotine Dependence Center. Your doctors are committed to finding the best solution for you and working with you to develop a personalized care plan.

Care coordination

Your care is coordinated by a dedicated pulmonary medicine nursing team that manages seamless transitions from in-hospital care, to outpatient, rehabilitation and in-home pulmonary rehabilitation, as needed.

Expertise and rankings

Mayo Clinic is one of the leading treatment centers for COPD and related lung diseases. Each year, specialists on its campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota evaluate and treat thousands of people with COPD and related conditions. Mayo Clinic is recognized for top-quality pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine by a variety of national organizations.

Mayo Clinic offers the latest treatments, including bronchoscopy lung volume reduction, which is a minimally invasive procedure that results in fewer side effects and a shorter hospital stay compared with surgical lung volume reduction.

Nationally recognized expertise

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for pulmonology by U.S. News and World Report.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for respiratory disorders by U.S. News and World Report.

Advanced diagnosis and treatment

Successful treatment starts with an accurate diagnosis. Whether you're newly diagnosed or have been living with COPD or a related condition for years, you'll be seen by doctors who have access to the latest diagnostic and treatment services so that you get the exact care you need.

Our doctors use a robotic bronchoscopy system to allow for safer sampling of suspect lung tissue without losing the effectiveness of the standard method — CT-guided biopsy. Robotic bronchoscopy also gives access to areas of the lungs that can't be reached by standard bronchoscopy.

After undergoing a thorough assessment, you'll receive a full treatment plan tailored to your needs. A range of inpatient and outpatient treatment options will be considered. Your plan might include one or more of the following:

  • Medications, such as bronchodilators
  • Oxygen therapy
  • Endoscopic lung volume reduction, which is a minimally invasive procedure with fewer side effects compared with surgical lung volume reduction
  • Pulmonary rehabilitation
  • In-home noninvasive ventilation therapy

Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation

People with significant COPD symptoms may be eligible to undergo pulmonary rehabilitation in their home. Mayo Clinic's home-based pulmonary rehabilitation program includes health coaching and in-home technology that monitors activity and well-being. The program can be done regardless of where the participant resides. The program has proven to improve quality of life and decrease emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

Considering surgery

If surgery is the best option for you, you'll consult with a surgeon with advanced training in lung volume reduction surgery or lung transplant. Mayo Clinic is a major center for lung transplant. The lung transplant team performs more than 50 lung transplants a year.

Conditions treated

The experts of the COPD clinic help people with the following lung problems:

Tests and procedures

When being evaluated in the COPD Clinic, you might undergo one or more of the following tests and procedures:

  • Arterial blood gas analysis
  • Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP)
  • Bronchodilators
  • Bronchoscopy
  • Bullectomy
  • Chest X-ray
  • CT-guided biopsy
  • CT scan
  • Endobronchial ultrasound biopsy
  • Endoscopic lung volume reduction surgery
  • Inhalers
  • In-home noninvasive ventilation therapy
  • Lung (pulmonary) function tests
  • Lung transplant
  • Lung volume reduction surgery
  • Mindful breathing
  • Oxygen therapy
  • Pulmonary rehabilitation
  • Radial endobronchial ultrasound biopsy
  • Rigid bronchoscopy
  • Robotic bronchoscopy
  • Stop smoking services

Research leading to new options for you

Pulmonary scientists in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Research conduct comprehensive basic and clinical research ― including conducting clinical trials ― to improve early diagnosis and better treatment options for diseases such as COPD and emphysema. Mayo Clinic was one of 10 clinical centers for the Lung Health Studies, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which yielded landmark studies. The clinic's researchers also participated in the COPD Clinical Research Network, the Lung Tissue Research Consortium, the National Emphysema Treatment Trial, the Spiral CT Lung Cancer Screening Trial, the National Lung Screening Trial and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease.

Examples of research efforts focused on improving people's lives include:

  • Offering research participants an opportunity to test new pulmonary rehabilitation approaches in the Mindful Breathing Laboratory
  • Testing how a regenerative medicine approach using stem cells be used to treat COPD
  • Evaluating and developing better interventions for obstructive lung diseases
  • Understanding how the airways become scarred in COPD and certain interstitial lung diseases
  • Understanding how cigarette smoking and e-cigarette exposure promote the scarring of asthma and COPD
  • Studying the role of fungal organisms in the development and progression of lung diseases such as asthma and COPD
  • Participating in a multicenter trial to evaluate an innovative robotic bronchoscopy system

Clinical trials

Mayo Clinic researchers are involved in studies to evaluate potential treatments (clinical trials) for COPD and related conditions. You may have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials, whether you're newly diagnosed with COPD or have been living with it for a long time. Ask your doctor about clinical trials that might be right for you.

Our clinical trials include experimental treatments, often unavailable elsewhere, which frequently lead to improved COPD care for people worldwide. Learn more about COPD clinical trials at Mayo Clinic.

Research profiles

Appointments

You may be referred by your primary doctor, or you may make an appointment without a referral. Availability of services may vary among Mayo Clinic locations. Please confirm when you call to request an appointment.