Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Lung Diseases
When you breathe, your lungs take in oxygen from the air and deliver it to the bloodstream. The cells in your body need oxygen to work and grow. During a normal day, you breathe nearly 25,000 times. People with lung disease have difficulty breathing. Millions of people in the U.S. have lung disease. If all types of lung disease are lumped together, it is the number three killer in the United States.
The term lung disease refers to many disorders affecting the lungs, such as asthma, COPD, infections like influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis, lung cancer, and many other breathing problems. Some lung diseases can lead to respiratory failure.
Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health
It sits within Lungs and Breathing.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Lung Diseases
42,648 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Targeted Therapy Directed by Genetic Testing in Treating Patients With Advanced Refractory Solid Tumors, Lymphomas, or Multiple Myeloma (The MATCH Screening Trial)National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Osimertinib With or Without Bevacizumab as Initial Treatment for Patients With EGFR-Mutant Lung CancerNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- An Open-label Extension Study of XTMAB-16 in Patients With Pulmonary SarcoidosisXentria, Inc.
- A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine Ibuzatrelvir in Adults With COVID-19 Who Are Severely ImmunocompromisedPfizer
- TREPROSTINIL in Pulmonary Hypertension: Evidence and Clinical TrendsAOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals AG
- Efficacy and Safety of Golidocitinib for Rapidly Progressive Interstitial Lung DiseasePeking Union Medical College Hospital
Research already completed
- Preliminary Evaluation of a Large Language Model-Based Tool for Complex Surgical Decision Support in Lung CancerPeking University People's Hospital
- Natural History of Systemic and Nasal Mucosal Immunity to Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 in Adults After VaccinationNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
- The COX-2 Gene and the Immune SystemNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- Effects of Immulina TM Supplements With PASC PatientsUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Lung DiseaseDepartment of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health
- Lungs and Respiratory SystemNemours Foundation
Diagnosis and Tests
- Bronchoscopy and Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL)National Library of Medicine
- Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) Isoenzymes TestNational Library of Medicine
- Lung Function TestsNational Library of Medicine
- Needle Biopsy of the LungRadiological Society of North America
- Pulse OximetryNational Library of Medicine
Treatments and Therapies
- Chest tube insertion - seriesMedical Encyclopedia
- Chest Tube ThoracostomyAmerican Thoracic Society
- Long-Term Control Medications for Lung DiseasesNational Jewish Health
- Lung Disease TreatmentsNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- Pulmonary lobectomy - seriesMedical Encyclopedia
Living With
- Breathing and RelaxationNational Jewish Health
- Oxygen Therapy: MedlinePlus Health TopicNational Library of Medicine
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation: MedlinePlus Health TopicNational Library of Medicine
Related Issues
- Air PollutantsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Inhaled Marijuana and the LungsAmerican Thoracic Society
- Mold Allergy: Proper Humidifier CareNational Jewish Health
Genetics
- Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Primary ciliary dyskinesia: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Statistics and Research
- Lung DiseasesNational Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Lung DiseasesNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Respiratory Distress Syndrome, AdultNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Lung Diseases. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Lung Diseases, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.