Hitesh Batra, M.D., M.B.A.

The UAB Interventional Pulmonology (IP) program will begin expansion to a new space in Fall 2024 to improve their clinical practices later in the year.

This new space, located in Jefferson Towers, will offer advanced diagnostic bronchoscopy, robotic bronchoscopy, rigid bronchoscopy, medical thoracoscopy, pleural biopsies, and other essential IP procedures.

The UAB IP program, the first such program in Alabama, offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to a wide range of pulmonary and pleural diseases including lung cancer, central airway obstruction lung mass, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, pneumothorax, malignant pleural effusions, and undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions.

UAB IP offers the full range of interventional pulmonology procedures such as flexible/rigid bronchoscopy, fiducial marker placement, silicone, metallic, and hybrid airway stents, and pleural biopsy.

“These procedures will be new for the Jefferson Towers suite. With the new rooms, we will have anesthesia available. This will allow us to do all those procedures that we currently do in the OR which need general anesthesia,” Batra said.

“Our fundamental philosophy is that all patients with thoracic malignancies or complications thereof deserve prompt attention. We expect the expanded capacity to significantly shorten wait times and expedite care for our patients with lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies,” Hitesh Batra, M.D., M.B.A., explained.

“The biggest advantage to these new procedure rooms will be more space and therefore more availability to do these procedures and less wait times,” Batra said.