This website is not medical advice
All content on this website, including the pages on asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, tuberculosis, sleep apnea, bronchoscopy, EBUS-TBNA, pleural disease and interventional pulmonology, is published for general education and awareness. It describes how conditions are typically recognised, investigated and treated. It is not a diagnosis, not a prescription, and not personalised medical advice for you or for anyone you are reading on behalf of.
Nothing here should be used to diagnose yourself, to decide that a symptom is harmless, to start, stop or change any medicine, to alter a dose, or to postpone a consultation. If you have a symptom that worries you, see a qualified doctor. If you already have a treating doctor, follow their advice, because they have examined you and have access to your history and reports.
No doctor-patient relationship is created
Reading these pages, watching a linked video, following a social media account, commenting on a post, or sending a message or an image through WhatsApp does not make you a patient of Dr. Gogineni Ratnakara Rao and does not create a doctor-patient relationship.
That relationship begins only with a consultation, in person or through a formally arranged teleconsultation conducted in accordance with applicable telemedicine practice guidelines, in which a history is taken, an examination or assessment is performed, and a clinical record is created. Reports and images sent informally cannot be interpreted safely in isolation and will not be used to issue a diagnosis, a prescription or a certificate.
Every patient is different
The descriptions on this site are generalisations. Two people with the same diagnosis can need entirely different treatment depending on age, severity, lung function, other illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney or liver disease, pregnancy or breastfeeding, allergies, other medications, occupation, home environment and personal preference.
Symptoms also overlap between conditions. Breathlessness may come from the lungs, the heart, the blood or anxiety. A cough that lasts weeks may be asthma, reflux, tuberculosis, an interstitial disease or a tumour. Only a clinical assessment with the appropriate tests can distinguish them, which is why this website consistently points towards evaluation rather than self-treatment.
Medicines, doses and procedures
Where drug groups, treatment strategies or procedures are named on this site, they are mentioned to explain how conditions are managed in general. They are not a recommendation that you take, request or avoid any specific product. Specific doses, brand names, schedules and treatment durations are deliberately not given, because they must be individualised and monitored.
Descriptions of procedures such as bronchoscopy, EBUS-TBNA, thoracoscopy, chest drainage or airway stenting outline what such procedures generally involve, along with commonly recognised risks. They are not a substitute for the specific consent discussion that takes place before any procedure, in which the indication, the alternatives, the expected benefit and the risks relevant to you personally are explained by the treating team.
No treatment described here is guaranteed to work, and every intervention carries risk. Do not stop prescribed treatment, particularly anti-tuberculosis therapy, inhaled therapy, oxygen or CPAP, on the basis of anything you read online.
Currency and completeness of information
Respiratory medicine changes continually. Guidelines are revised, drugs are approved or withdrawn, and diagnostic thresholds move. Content on this site reflects accepted practice at the time it was written and reviewed, and no undertaking is given that every page is updated the moment a guideline changes. Pages carry a review attribution, and the content should be read as an introduction rather than as a complete or authoritative clinical reference.
Errors and omissions are possible despite careful preparation. If you notice something that appears inaccurate or out of date, please bring it to our attention through the contact details on the site.
Outcomes, reviews and testimonials
No promise, warranty or guarantee of any particular clinical outcome, cure, recovery time or success rate is made anywhere on this website. Statements about what treatment can achieve describe typical expectations from published evidence and clinical experience, not an assurance for an individual patient.
Patient reviews and ratings that appear on external platforms such as Google reflect the personal experience and opinion of those individuals. They are not verified clinical outcomes, they are not endorsed as representative, and they should not be read as an indication of the result that any other person will experience.
External links, videos and social media
This website links to external resources, including the hospital's appointment page, Google Maps, and the YouTube, Instagram and Facebook channels associated with the practice. Educational videos and social posts are also general information and carry exactly the same limitations as the pages on this site.
Comments, replies and messages on public platforms are unsuitable for confidential clinical information, and any general response given there is not personal medical advice. Content on third-party websites is not under our control, and a link does not imply endorsement of everything that appears on the destination.
How to use this website well
- Use it to prepare for a consultation: to understand what a test involves, what questions to ask, and what your options are likely to be.
- Bring your previous prescriptions, discharge summaries, laboratory reports and imaging, ideally on a disc or in the original format rather than only as reports.
- Write down your main symptoms, when they started, what makes them worse, and the medicines you currently take, including inhalers and over-the-counter drugs.
- Ask about anything you have read here that does not appear to match your situation, since general text often differs from an individual case for good clinical reasons.
- Do not delay seeking care because a page here suggests a symptom may be common or benign.
This disclaimer should be read together with the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. For appointments or queries, call +91 74164 43331 or use WhatsApp.
Last updated: 10 September 2026.