OSU Medical Center is the first health care organization in the country to earn this recognition.

Drs. Philip Diaz and Patrick Ross, a pulmonary specialist and director of the general thoracic surgery program respectively, have been instrumental in developing the program, which began in 1995.

OSU Medical Center was one of 18 health care institutions from around the nation chosen, based on emphysema treatment research and demonstrated expertise in performing lung volume reduction surgery, to participate in clinical trials testing the effectiveness of the procedure. Lung volume reduction surgeries are performed in University Hospital.

Lung volume reduction surgery is used to alleviate the symptoms of pulmonary emphysema and can provide an improved quality of life to many patients with the irreversible disease. People with emphysema have a continuous shortness of breath because the tiny air sacs in the lungs become damaged and decrease oxygen exchange due to reduced elasticity of the lungs.

In lung reduction surgery, diseased portions of the lung are removed to allow the remaining, healthy portions of the lung to expand freely in the chest cavity. The procedure consists of surgically removing 25 percent to 30 percent of the most damaged sections of each lung.

An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Joint Commission standards focus on both an organization’s ability to provide safe, high-quality care, and on its actual performance.

To read the news release distributed by OSUMC media relations, go to: http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/mediaroom/press/article.cfm?ID=2710