Respiratory Medicine

An estimated 20% of the children in Singapore suffer from bronchial asthma. In addition, statistics show that 20% of normal children snore occasionally and seven to ten percent have habitual snoring. While in most cases children who snore are perfectly healthy, about one percent of them snore due to sleep and/or breathing problems. The risk is higher if they have large tonsils and adenoids, nerve and muscle problems, abnormality in the jaw and face area, a family history of sleep and breathing problems, or are obese.

A key referral centre in Singapore for breathing and sleep-related disorders, our Respiratory Medicine Service cares for a large number of children ranging from newborns to 16-year-olds. We lead two national programmes :

• The National High Risk Asthma Shared Care (NASC) programme, also known as Singapore National Asthma Programme (SNAP)
• The evaluation of severely obese children with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA).

We also partner family physicians and paediatricians to facilitate the medical care and management of our patients at community level.

Range of Services:

• General respiratory disorders
• Asthma management
  • Asthma counselling is an integral aspect of the overall management of asthma, and is conducted by our experienced asthma nurse educators.
  • We educate the patients on the disease process and the need for compliance to treatment.
  • We teach and reinforce the inhaler techniques during each visit, and prepare an action plan that empowers parents with skills to cope and manage an asthma exacerbation.
• Chronic lung disease
• Respiratory tract infections
• Sleep related breathing disorders
• General sleep disorders
• Pulmonary assessment
  • We have a complete pulmonary function laboratory capable of performing spirometry, measuring lung volumes diffusion studies, NIOX studies as well as challenge tests.
  • The availability of the skin allergy testing complements the tests available to fully evaluate an atopic individual with asthma.
• Paediatric flexible bronchoscopy
• Video polysomnography and Mean Sleep Latency Tests
  • Our Sleep Disorders Centre consists of a three-room facility running more then 500 studies a year. This facility is capable of doing 12 sleep studies a week.
  • The video polysomnography and the sleep latency tests allow the clinician to fully evaluate a wide range of sleep disorders including sleep related breathing disorders, parasomnias, hypersomnias, and periodic limb movement disorders.

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