Category Archives: Health

Smoking ravages your lungs, so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the leading causes of emphysema. But it might surprise you to learn that smoking isn’t the only risk factor for this serious lung condition. Find out more here.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, so hearing the diagnosis can be frightening. But lung cancer treatments can be extremely effective, especially in the early stages. Here’s what you need to know.

According to the American Lung Association, more than 154,000 Americans die from lung cancer every year. Lung cancer accounts for one-fourth of all cancer-related deaths, and lung cancer care exceeds $13.4

There’s nothing more frightening than struggling to breathe. And if you live with a condition that compromises your lungs or heart, you may face this scary reality daily. Find out if oxygen therapy can help you breathe more easily.

When your organs fail, modern technology steps in to perform their jobs and save your life.  Among these life-saving machines, one of the most widely used and most effective is dialysis, a treatment that does the job of your kidneys when yours have failed.  At Rockland Thoracic & Vascular Associates, we create dialysis access ports for patients in […]

From a gentle sigh or blood-curdling scream to the simple act of speaking, you rely on your lungs for some basic functions. You also rely on them for the not-so-basic function of sustaining your life, so learn how to keep them from harm and give them every advantage. Our team of experienced specialists at Rockland Thoracic & Vascular […]

You have more than 60,000 miles of vasculature, which means that if you took all your veins, capillaries, and arteries out of your body, they could circle the Earth more than twice. Most people don’t think about their vein health until something goes wrong, but there are some simple adjustments you can make to eliminate bad habits […]

A form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema develops when you’ve sustained damage to the walls of your lungs between the air sacs called alveoli. Once pliable and elastic, your lung tissue becomes stiff and can’t expel air completely.  With old air trapped in your lungs, there’s no space for fresh air to enter, which causes […]

After the shock of a lung cancer diagnosis, you may have lots of questions about treatments, survival rates, and next steps. More people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer, but the first thing you should know is that it’s highly treatable in its earliest stages.  And that’s the hopeful message we want to […]

On life’s long list of things we take for granted, you can add your chest wall. If you are like most people, you never give a second thought to this structural part of your anatomy that defines your upper torso.  But at Rockland Thoracic & Vascular Associates, we think about it a lot. Our experts specialize in keeping your […]