respirology

Respirology is another name for pulmonology — the same medical specialty looking after the lungs and breathing, just under a different label. If you meet a respirologist and a pulmonologist, you have met two doctors with essentially the same training and the same patients.

Which word a country uses is mostly a matter of regional custom. Respirology and respiratory medicine are the usual terms in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and much of the Commonwealth, while pulmonology and pulmonary medicine are more common in the United States. The Greek and Latin roots differ, but they point at the same organ system.

Because the names are interchangeable, you will see them mixed freely in textbooks, journals and job titles. It is worth knowing all of them so the variation does not confuse you when you read or travel: pulmonology, respirology, respiratory medicine, chest medicine and thoracic medicine all describe overlapping versions of the same field.